New Journey Hoenn Region
by overlord prinny
Summary: Red and Green venture into the Hoenn Region. There, they'll find new rivals, new enemies, and a boy that likes butchering peoples names!
1. Chapter 1

It had been two hours since Red and Green left the harbor of Vermillion City, bound for the region of Hoenn. The very first thing Red did after the ship began moving, was catch up with Green on what he had missed over the past three years.

**-Red and Green's Cabin-**

Red sat down on the bed, a look of shock on his face that he'd been hiding since he heard the news about Blue, covered his face.

"I still can't get over it! Blue is a gym leader!" Green laughed at Red's bewildered look as he continued "I mean, just looking at him, you'd think he'd join the Elite Four or something! But a GYM LEADER?!"

"His loss against you in the Indigo Plateau really made him think about his methods." Green said as she got up and looked out their cabin window "He went back to the Professor's lab for one year, studying and training from the beginning, got eight badges again and became champion again all with his current team." She sighed and sat down in the cozy chair underneath the window. "One year after that he trained harder and became Viridian City's Gym Leader as he is now."

Red groaned as the ship began rocking, suddenly feeling a bit sea sick, and got up. "I'm gonna go get some air. I'll be on deck if you need me." Green watched Red leave the room and sighed "He STILL get's sea sick?"

**-On deck-**

Red groaned heavily as he looked out over the sea. He never was good with ships, even a light rocking motion made him very dizzy.

"Sea sick?"

Red slowly looked to his left and found a boy his age sitting on one of the deck chairs, a fishing rod sitting next to him, line cast out over the edge of the ship. The boy wore a black short sleeve hoodie with a strange looking red design covering the sleeves and simple green camo baggy pants. A straw hat covered his face, minus his mouth.

"I can tell. You see a lot of different kinds of people on boat's like these. If you look and listen carefully, you'll learn lot's about people." The boy patted a deck chair next to him on the other side of his fishing rod "Grab a seat and rest a bit." Hoping for any form of aid, Red quickly plopped down on the chair and sighed as the dizziness began fading. He turned to the boy "Thanks. I'm Red, from Kanto. I'm on-"

"A trip to Hoenn. I know." Red watched as the boy's mouth curled up into a grin as Red shot him a surprised look "I heard you and that orange haired guy talking about it before the boat left." The boy suddenly lifted the straw hat off his face, revealing azure eyes and messy silver hair. "Kira Thantos. Unova region. I'm traveling around the world."

The two shook hands. "Unova….. I've never heard of that region. Is that up north?" Kira laughed and shrugged "Dunno for sure. I've got a terrible sense of direction. For all I know, Unova could be underground…." He suddenly sat up and began a thinking pose "But then…..how would I have gotten on this ship? How would anyone-" He was quickly broken out of his thoughts as the fishing rod began dragging along the ground. "Hold that thought!" Kira yelled as he quickly grabbed the rod and began pulling.

A few seconds later and a Sharpedo was yanked out of the water. Many people on the deck yelled/screamed/fainted as the shark Pokemon landed. "Nice catch." Red commented, watching Kira untangle the Sharpedo from the line. "Aye, but it's not the Pokemon I'm looking for." Kira replied tossing Sharpedo back into the sea and restringing the fishing rod. Kira cast the line again, sat down in his chair, and sighed "I was hoping to find Kyogre around these seas, but I guess not. That was my seventy-sixth catch."

He pulled out a small black book and marked something on a page "And that was the twenty-third Sharpedo." Red chuckled a little and nodded to Kira "You've been at this for quite a while, huh?" Kira grinned in response before setting his straw hat back on his face and leaned back in his chair "Well, it'd be boring if I found it so quickly." Red slowly looked up at the sky "What kind of Pokemon is Kyogre? Is it rare?"

"Rare? It's a legendary Pokemon!" Red tilted his head slightly further back and found Green staring down at him. "Legendary? Like Mewtwo or Articuno?" Green nodded and sat down in front of Red "It's counter-part is called Groundon. I don't know what type it is. I DO know that Kyogure is a Pokemon you won't find by fishing!"

Kira suddenly bolted upright, a shocked look on his face. Green shot Kira a surprised look "Don't tell me, you thought fishing would work?" Kira suddenly began grumbling about water Pokemon and their sneakiness. "Well that's good to know. That's knocked the list of places to search by a lot. Thanks, Grass Green!"

Green's eye twitched and she glared at him "It's LEAF Green! And how did you know my name anyway?" Red chose that moment to chime in "He's good at learning stuff like that." Green's eye twitched again "I see…" Kira laughed "Relax! We still have a good ten hours' till we reach the Johto region!" He handed Green the fishing rod "Grab a seat! Catch some water Pokemon! Have a good time!"

Green and Red glanced at each other nervously then at Kira "Um…. This ships heading for Hoenn." Poor, poor Kira….

"DAMMIT! I'M ON THE WRONG BOAT AGAIN!"

**-A few hours later. Evening. On deck-**

Kira was amazed at Greens fishing skills. Despite being completely new to fishing, she had landed some very rare catches.

"That makes seven Seaking's, three Feebas, nine Relecanth and a Milotic, that one was awesome by the way." Kira remarked as he made a dash under a page he had dubbed 'Green's fishing catches'. Green laughed as she cast the line again. Red sweatdropped "And to think, this is the first time she's ever gone fishing…."

Red and Green quickly became friends with Kira as time went by. All three eventually began a fishing contest to see who had the best fishing skills. Unsurprisingly, Green won with another Milotic catch. As time passed, the three swapped stories of the beginning of their journeys.

"And the same Team Rocket leader was the Viridian City gym leader? How did the Pokemon association allow that?" Kira asked with a surprised look.

Red gave a tired shrug "Dunno. I guess they didn't know Giovanni was a criminal organization leader until after he resigned. Sure surprised me." "So who's the current Gym Leader?" Kira asked, writing down what Red had told him. When Red suddenly adopted a far away look in his eyes, Green sighed and rolled her eyes "Viridian's current leader is Water Blue."

"Ah." Kira began with a nod and began writing again "And he's the same rival Red battled against numerous times over your journey…. interesting." Green nodded in response, before pointing at Kira "So what about you? What was your journey like?" Kira laughed "I'm on it right now! Unova recently became part of the Gym Leader branch, meaning we're still getting Gym Leaders, so till they get that set up, I'm just traveling and searching for rare Pokemon and collecting other region's badges."

Red suddenly snapped out of it "Why are you looking for a Pokemon like Kyogre? Are you trying to catch it?" Kira grinned at Red's question and patted the small bag sitting next to his chair "Good lord no. I've already got my dream team! I may be just starting my travels, but my team is set. I'm just searching for it for fun!"

Green suddenly yawned and Red looked at his pokegear "Oh man! It's already midnight? We better get some sleep!" Kira smiled and nodded "Sorry, I kept you two up too late." Red and Green both shook their heads "No problem! We had fun! Right, Green?" Red said as he got up and stretched. Green yawned again and gave a smiling nod to Kira before heading for their cabin. Kira waved to Green before settling back into his deck chair and placing his straw hat back over his face.

Red gave Kira a strange look "Your not going to go back to your cabin?" Kira smiled and shrugged "Don't need one. The star's are awesome right now." "Hmmm, suit yourself. I hope we meet again in Hoenn, Kira." Red said with a shrug as he turned and walked down the nearby steps. Kira chuckled lightly and held up a small pokeball. It was purple on top and had two small red circles across the top, along with a large M in between the circles.

"I'm sure we will, Flaming Red. I'm sure we will."

The fishing rod suddenly began jerking towards the edge of the ship.

"Dammit! Get back here!"

**-Near the Lillycove city docks. 7:30 am-**

Green yawned and stretched as she exited her cabin. "Come on Red! The ship's nearly there!" If one looked over the edge of the ship, they would see a small port coming into view. Small fishing boats could be seen getting out of the way of the large ships path as it moved closer and closer. Red groaned as he rolled out of bed and onto the floor.

"Rocking motion….go on without me…..save yourself…."

Green rolled her eyes, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and sighed. For the record, she did that a lot too. "Oh, stop being so melodramatic! I'll wait for you on deck!" She sighed again and turned only to smack right into one of the sailor's who ran the ship.

"Ouch! Sorry sir!" Green exclaimed as she quickly helped the sailor up. The sailor laughed it off and smiled "Don't you worry little miss! We sailor's won't be shaken up by a mere bump!" Green couldn't help noticing a VERY familiar looking fishing pole in the sailors left hand. "Oh! That pole…."

The sailor looked at the pole, then to Green "You wouldn't happen to be Grass Green would you?" Green's eye twitched and slowly nodded. The sailor quickly thrust the fishing pole into her hand's along with a small envelope. "A 'Kira Thantos' told me to give you these two items. He left in quite a hurry, so I was unable to ask why. Have a nice trip little miss!" The sailor quickly saluted her and continued down the corridor.

"That little…." Green growled as she tore open the envelope and opened the folded up letter inside.

_**Dear Grass Green and Flaming Red. **_

_**Sorry I couldn't see you off the ship, but I had some buisness to take care of that couldn't wait. Anyway, Green, you must be surprised that you received my fishing pole. Don't worry about it, I can always get another one and you seemed to have fun with fishing, so I'm giving you mine. Consider it a welcome gift to Hoenn. We'll probably see each other down the road since I'm taking the gym challenge here in Hoenn like Red is. (Might as well as long as I'm stuck here.) **_

_**I'd like to battle the both of you sometime, but currently we (That is, me and my team.) are preparing for travel along with the important buisness, so you probably won't see me for a while. Well that's all for now I think….yeah I'm pretty sure. Alright then, see you both later!**_

_**K.T**_

_**P.S: Just remembered something, considering what I've learned about Red, he's most likely in bed with sea sickness right? Tell him to take three deep breaths and stare at the ceiling/sky (Depending on where you are.) for exactly twenty seconds. It's merely a temporary fix won't last longer than ten minutes….give or take. Alright, now I'm really finishing.**_

_**P.P.S: Sorry, I lied. Have you seen my straw hat? Blew off my head a bit earlier and I haven't been able to locate it. **_

Green quickly stuffed the letter into her bag (The Key Item's pouch!) with a huff, and dashed back into the cabin.

**-A few hours later…..give or take. Somewhere above Slateport City….. In the sky...-**

"I am never getting on a boat ever again…"

"You said the same thing on the S.S ANNE, and you said it again during the short vacation the Sevii Island. Face it, Red. You can't escape boats."

The two were now flying high in the sky atop Green's Pidgeot, which for the record she had lovingly named 'Steve'. It had taken them longer than expected to get to where they were now due to a rain storm that was attacking the route near Lillycove, which just happened to be in the direction the two were heading.

"If this map is correct, we should be above Slateport city. That's a little to the east of Littleroot Town." Red confirmed looking over a map he had received from Professor Oak a day before they left for Hoenn. Green nodded and patted Steve's back lightly "A little to the right, please?" Steve nodded and altered his flight path with a mighty flap of his wings. "I still can't believe you gave them different names." Red said looking over the map and giving Steve a curious look. Green smiled and hugged Steve "Why not? I think it's cute! Besides, Steve isn't the only one who's name's I've changed!"

Red gave a defeated sigh and went back to the map while Green pulled out five pokeballs and smiled at them. "Don't listen to the mean boyfriend! You guy's rule whether your names are different or not!" Nether of them noticed, but Steve puffed out his chest a bit as he flew onward.

A half hour later, Steve began circling high above a small town below. Red looked over the side and frowned "Think that's the place?" Green looked over the other side and nodded "I think so. Grandpa said the town would be small and surrounded by forest!"

**-Meanwhile….. Down below….-**

A boy about the same age as Red wearing a red sweater and black pants jumped out from the trunk of a large van and stretched his limbs happily, wiping some dust from his white hat. "We finally made it! Littleroot Town!" A woman quickly came out of a nearby house and smiled "Enjoy the trip Brendan? Sorry about making you come all this way in the back of the moving van. Your father needed some help with moving into the Petalburg Gym."

Brendan laughed and hugged the woman "Don't worry about it mom! I understand how busy father is. Beside's, the Machoke tell funny stories about their trainer's!" Brendan's mother rolled her eyes "Again with your jokes. People are gonna think your strange if you keep it up!" Brendan suddenly frowned and glared at the woman.

"I'm not telling jokes! I CAN understand what Pokemon say!"

His mother laughed and ushered him into the house, it was a spacious home with a second floor all to himself. "Go check out your room while the moving Pokemon finish unpacking. Make sure you set your alarm clock too!"

Brendan grumbled about his ability being real as he climbed the stairs leading to his room. He barely cast a glance at the clock and moved the hands wherever he pleased before grabbing a potion from his PC and descending the stairs.

His ear's picked up the all to familiar sounds of the news on TV as he entered the living room. Being the son of a gym leader meant he heard about his father on the news a lot, along with news on the other gym leaders around the world. Cable was awesome like that.

There his father was, looking all too uncomfortable in front of the news crew on TV. Brendan laughed mentally as he wondered if he would be the same when he became a gym leader.

_We brought you this report live in front of Petalburg gym!_

"Oh….it's over." His mother sighed as she switched the TV off. "Your father was being interviewed about taking the gym leader post. Don't worry, I recorded it for you."

If anyone asked him if he recorded every news clip on gym leaders, Brendan would quickly deny it. The three boxes up in his room told a completely different story.

"Oh yes! One of Norman's friends lives in town. Professor Birch is his name. He lives right next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself." Brendan sighed as he got up and left the house.

On one hand, he had a chance to become friends with a friend of his fathers…. On the OTHER hand, the second Brendan was asked if he had any talents, he would say he could understand Pokemon, without hesitation, Which always lead to him losing friends just as quickly as he made them.

Spotting the house easily, Brendan knocked on the door twice and smiled as a woman opened the door. "Oh hello, and you are?" Brendan smiled and nodded "I'm Brendan. My family just moved next door."

The woman mirrored Brendan's smile and motioned for him to come in. "Oh, your Brendan, our new next door neighbor! Please come in!" Brendan sweatdropped as she echoed his introduction, but entered the house anyway. The inside mirrored his home in every way for some reason.

"We have a daughter about your age." The woman began as she moved to the kitchen. "She was excited about making a new friend. I think she might be upstairs at the moment. She's usually out with her father doing research, but she wanted to stay home and meet you." Brendan nodded and ascended the strangely familiar looking stairs.

_Why does her room resemble mine? _Brendan thought as he looked around the upstairs room.

"Hi! Are you our neighbor?"

A girl about his age wearing a blue t-shirt, white shorts and a bandana matching her shirt, quickly got up from the desk she was sitting at and rushed over to greet him. "U-Uh, yeah! I'm Brendan. I moved here with my family from Johto. What's your name?"

The girl smiled and bowed slightly "I'm May!" She looked at him with sparkles in her eyes "This is so awesome! Finally a person my age! Everyone here is ether too old or too young to be friends!" May suddenly blushed faintly and looked down at her feet "We can be friends, right?" Brendan mentally shrugged, it's not like he had to tell her about his ability. "Of course!" He replied with a smile. May turned slightly redder and quickly pumped her fists into the air. "Awesome!"

She suddenly gasped and looked at her clock on the wall. _THAT RESEMBLES MY CLOCK! _Brendan noted.

"Oh no! I completely forgot! I was supposed to help dad catch some wild Pokemon!" Next thing Brendan knew, May was in front of an open window leading into a bunch of tree's. "I'll catch you later, Brendan!" She said before jumping out.

"Lame pun!" Came a voice from below. Not the Brendan paid any attention to the voice.

**-Meanwhile…AGAIN!-**

"That's it Steve, nice and easy…."

The two had finally decided to land, after a few minutes of searching for the letter Blue had given Red that had somehow become lost in his bag. Needless to say, they found it.

Red sighed and kissed the ground after jumping down from the bird Pokemon. His arms then shot into the air.

"LAND!"

Green blushed in embarrassment as several people began looking in his direction strangely. "Cut it out! Your embarrassing me!" Green hissed as she returned Steve. She then smacked his head.

"Um, hi!"

Green turned and smiled down at a little girl that had walked up to them.

"There are scary Pokemon outside! I can hear their cries!" Red and Green quickly heard a loud barking noise coming from the forest. The girl suddenly looked scared. "I want to go see what's going on, but I don't have any Pokemon…" Red, being experienced with this kind of thing, quickly stood up and patted the girl's head. He then turned to Green "Stay here, I'll go check it out, see if you can find the professor."

"But Red! You don't have any-" Green began as Red quickly ran into the forest. She slapped her head and sighed.

"That moron!"

Green never noticed a boy with a white hat run past her as she was pulled into a tour of the town by the little girl.

_**Reader's may be confused as to why I changed Pidgeot to Steve. Green will be using my nuzlocke team from FireRed. Yes I DID name my Pidgey, Steve when I caught it! I like Steve. Next chapter's already being written. Read and review.**_


	2. Chapter 2

"H-HELP ME!"

Red shoved aside a bunch of vines and found himself in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by more trees with a small lake off to the side. This clearing would have been considered peaceful, if not for the man high up in a tree with three small grey/black dog Pokemon barking up at him!

"Hang on sir!" Red yelled out and quickly went for his belt…only to find no pokeballs! "Oh no…. I left my team back in Kanto!" The man quickly noticed Red and began waving his arms.

"Hello! You over there! Please help!" The man then pointed to a small dusty brown bag a few feet away from the dog Pokemon. "Inside the bag! There's three pokeballs!"

Red nodded and quickly dashed over to the bag and unzipped it.

"Arrgh! Professor!"

Red turned to the voice and watched as a boy wearing a white hat and red shirt ran over to where Red was. "What are you waiting for?! Help me take those Poochyena down!" The boy yelled digging into the bag and grabbing a pokeball. The word TORCHIC was written across the top of the ball. Red nodded and quickly fished around for another pokeball and grabbed one marked TREECKO.

Both boys' reared back and threw the pokeballs.

"Come on out/Battle on, TREECKO/TORCHIC!"

In a flash, a green gecko Pokemon and a small chick Pokemon appeared and glared at the Poochyena pack. Red, with his battle prowess sharpened by four years of battle, instantly made the first move.

"Treecko, get those Pokemon away from the tree with pound!" Treecko instantly leapt forward and knocked all three Poochyena away with a spinning tail smack. Brendan watched with fascination as Red swiftly continued "Lower their guard with Leer then knock one out with Pound!" Treecko quickly bounced off the tree and glared at one of the Poochyena, causing it to back away a little, before bringing its tail down on the dog Pokemon.

Brendan quickly snapped out of it and pointed to one of the Poochyena that was rushing at Treecko "No you don't! Cover Treecko with peck!" Torchic responded to its trainer's energy with amazing speed and halted the attacking Poochyena with its beak. Red's eyes flickered to the remaining Poochyena, who was growling menacingly at Treecko. His mouth quickly curled up into a smirk. "Ready?" Brendan nodded and the two pointed at the growling Poochyena.

"POUND/PECK!"

**-Littleroot town-**

"And this is the town lab!"

While Red was off battling, Green was being dragged around the town by the little girl, barely able to keep up with the small child. Green followed the child and entered the building and found a lab similar to her grandfather's lab in Kanto. A lone researcher was fiddling with a computer nearby.

"Teacher!"

The researcher jumped slightly, sighed, and turned from his desk. "Natalie, I swear you will give me a heart attack one day!" The researcher quickly noticed Green and smiled "Oh? Did you make a friend, Natalie?"

Green laughed when Natalie's face turned red. "I'm Green, from Kanto. I have a letter for Professor Birch from Professor Oak!" The researcher gave Green a strange look before sighing.

"The Professor is away on fieldwork. Ergo, he's not here."

Natalie began giggling. "Teacher says a lot of strange words!" He didn't seem to hear her as he continued.

"Oh! Let me explain what fieldwork is!" The researcher quickly shuffled over to a large blackboard near the back of the lab and began writing extremely complex words that nether Green or Natalie could understand.

"It is to study things in the natural environment, like fields and mountains, instead of a lab. The professor isn't one for deskwork. He's the type of person who would rather go outside and experience things, than read about them here."

Green watched in horror, as the researcher began drifting into more and more complicated topics as he went on. Unfortunately, he never gave her an opening to interrupt, leaving Natalie and her to listen to the increasingly terrifying lecture.

-Back with Red and Brendan…-

"Not bad." Red said with a smile as he returned Treecko to its pokeball. Brendan sighed, somehow drained from such an easy battle, and sat down. "That was intense for my first battle…"

"First battle, huh? Don't worry, it'll get worse from here on out."

Brendan laughed/groaned in response "What about you? You've got skills that could put a gym leader to shame!" Red snorted and tossed the pokeball into the air a few times. "That was just with a starter Pokemon, a Pokemon that had just begun to utilize its abilities. When it gets stronger, you'll see some REAL skills."

"I thought you seemed familiar!"

Both Brendan and Red turned and saw Professor Birch climbing down from the tree quickly. Brendan shot Red a surprised glance before returning to the Professor.

"What, you know this guy?" Birch nodded and shook Red's hand "It's an honor to be able to meet Kanto's Champion! Fire Red, right?"

Brendan stared at Red in shock for a few seconds, before finally composing himself "Ch-Champion?!" Red gave a nervous chuckle and edged slightly away from the two "A-Actually, I retired to Mt. Silver three years ago. My rival, Water Blue, is the new champion." "If you went to Mt. Silver, then what are you doing in a region like Hoenn? Mt. Silver is in Johto!" Birch asked in shock. Brendan quickly switched between staring at Red and Birch at a rapid pace.

"Mt. Silver? What and where the heck is that?"

Red gave Brendan a serious look as he began "It's a large mountain that can only be entered two ways. The first is flying there, and that's only if your flying Pokemon knows the easiest way to break through the never-ending snowstorm and before you ask, fire won't work."

"The second is by completing at the very least, 16 gyms and getting the approval of not only the gym leaders, but also the Elite Four of both or more regions. And by approval, I DONT mean gym badges. Kanto is a special case because the Johto region's Pokemon League IS Kanto's Pokemon League. Because I was a champion back then, I only had to get the Elite Four's approval since I would be retiring my title."

Birch nodded sagely. "A mountain with wild Pokemon that you could spend years preparing for, and still fall to them. That's how powerful they are. How far did you get during the climb?"

Red shivered as memories of his climb drifted through his mind.

"Well…."

**-Flashback: Mt. Silver.-**

"PIKACHU, USE THUNDERBOLT!"

Red mentally sighed as he shouted his order over the howling blizzard that tore into him. He hadn't begun climbing more than twenty minutes, and he was already being attacked! He knew this climb would be dangerous, but come on!

Pikachu's thunderbolt was swatted away by a wild Skarmory wing. The Skarmory then quickly retaliated with a steel wing dive bomb. Red barely managed to climb to the next ledge, narrowly avoiding a lost leg or foot.

_This is insane! _Red snarled mentally _Skarmory is a steel type, sure, but it's also part flying! So how can it just shrug off all these attacks?! Are all Pokemon this powerful on the mountain?!_

Pikachu quickly scampered onto Red's shoulder as he quickly began climbing again. With luck, the Skarmory would be discouraged after slamming beak-first into the mountain.

"SKAAAAAAAR!"

No such luck.

Red quickly tossed a pokeball up to a cliff higher up and shouted over the blizzard "BLAST BURN!"

There was flash of orange and a huge waterfall of flames came down from above and burnt the skarmory to a crisp. Red breathed a sigh of relief and shot a thumbs up to the cliff above. "Nice one Charizard!

A few thousand more ledges, and more than a few hundred Skarmory, later, Red found himself unable to climb any higher. This meant that he must have reached the top! The ex-champ had climbed the unclimbable mountain in five days, and survived! Now all he had to do was survive another three years.

No pressure.

"SKAR!"

"OH COME ON!"

**-Flashback end-**

Brendan stared at Red in disbelief, while Birch nodded to Red in respect. "The top. The pinnacle of the mountain never before reached by humans. What was it like?" Red was about to respond when he was quickly interrupted.

"Train me!"

Red turned to Brendan in surprise as Brendan went to his knees before him. "Uh…why are you on your knees?" Red asked having VERY scary flashbacks of fan's swarming him after he became champion.

Brendan just looked up at Red in awe. "I want to climb Mt. Silver too! I want to see what you saw! The only way to do that is to become as strong as you!"

Red groaned and lowered his cap over his eyes in embarrassment "I can't. I got to the top without anyone's help except my Pokemon. Without them, I wouldn't be here. And will you PLEASE GET UP?!"

Birch began chuckling at the two before patting Red's back "Why don't you two keep Treecko, and Torchic? I'm sure you two could raise them right!"

Red smiled and nodded, while Brendan pumped his fist into the air "Alright! My journey starts here! Come on, Master Red! Let's get going!" Red groaned and shook his head "Please just call me Red… and we can't leave yet, I have to go pick up Leaf Green… who should be looking for the professor."

Professor Birch gasped and had a horrified look on his face "Oh, no! My assistant is still at the lab! He has a dangerous habit of long winded lectures! If your friend is at the lab…"

**-At the lab… a minute later…-**

"And that completes' my theory on the life cycle of a Rattata! Any questions?"

Natalie snored quietly with her head down on Green's shoulder, while Green sat behind a small table, with her eye twitching rapidly.

"Good! Then we can get to my theory on the move Super Fang! You see-"

The door was suddenly blasted off its hinges by Treecko's pound attack. Birch quickly rushed in, followed closely by Red as he ran over to Green and began shaking her.

"Green! Green are you alright?! Snap out of it!"

"Theory…..Rattata….Life cycle….Super Fang….."

Birch tackled the researcher to the ground and pinned his arms down. "Stan, you were warned. You need help. There's no such thing as the 'Super Fang' Theory."

'Stan' began struggling against the large professor while glaring at him.

"You won't stop me Birch! The world will know all the secret's of Super Fang! And with those secret's I will rule the world! IN THE NAME OF TOP PERCENTAGE RATTATA EVERYWHERE!"

"Master Red! Over here!" As Red exited the lab, carrying Green, he found Brendan waving him over near his home. A woman, most likely his mother, was standing next to him looking horrified as two uniformed policemen ran into the lab. "What on earth is going on? Brendan came running into the house, yelling at me to call the police!"

Red brought Green into the house and set her down on the sofa with a groan "Something about a theory. I didn't hear most of it." Brendan's mother nodded in response "Oh, that. Norman and I warned the professor about having Stan as an assistant but he decided to give the poor man a chance anyway. Ever since Stan lost to a trainer named Joey, he spent the rest of his life learning everything he could about Rattata. Must have lost his mind."

Red paused and blinked, unsure if his hearing was working.

"He lost his mind after losing to a Rattata?"

She nodded and sighed "Yes, poor man. He was so sure he could beat anyone with his Magikarp too…"

And Red thought Team Rocket was stupid…

"Enough about that mom! I'm gonna go on a journey with master Red and I need to get packed!" Brendan suddenly broke the conversation, he did that a lot it seemed, and dashed up the stairs to his room. His mother had a look of surprise as she got a better look at Red. "Oh my! The Kanto champion! Please don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing in Hoenn?"

Red smiled on the outside, but on the inside he was groaning. Appearently no one in Hoenn heard about Kanto getting a new champion. "I'm on a training journey. My rival Water Blue is the new champion of Kanto by the way."

Brendan's mother returned Red's smile and nodded. "I see. Well, if you happen to stop by Petalburg city could you give my husband Norman this letter?" She handed Red the letter just as Brendan jumped down the stair with a yellow backpack. "All set master!" His mother chuckled while Red groaned. "Please, enough with 'master'. Just call me Red. And we can't leave until Green wakes up."

"Well, how about this then?" Brendan's mom began (Man that's getting annoying to write.) "Birch's daughter May should be doing research around this time on route 103 which is past Oldale Town. You can tell her about what happened at his lab. I'll have the young lady awake by the time you two get back."

"Alright. Thanks a lot Ma'am." Red replied with a nod. "Come on Brendan. It'll be good training on the way." Brendan was already out the door at the word 'Training'.

**-Twenty minutes later… Route 103- **

Today was a good day for May. She got her first Pokemon from her dad, he agreed, finally, to let her do some research farther away from Littleroot Town, AND she made a friend! All in one day!

"Remember, memorizing as many Pokemon abilities as possible will help when preparing for a powerful opponent like Gym Leaders."

"Yes master!"

May sighed as a group of Zigzagoon suddenly dashed away in fright of the sudden voices. She was doing so well too! Confrontation time!

"Ex-CUSE me! Would you mind keeping it-" May instantly spotted Brendan staring at her in surprise. A slightly older boy was giving her a strange look. Surprise? Humor? She wasn't sure, and she usually could tell!

"BRENDAN!" She squealed tackling her new friend to the ground. The boy who was with him suddenly chuckled.

"Friend of yours, Brendan? Girlfriend?"

May instantly blushed and quickly got off him, letting him get up and glare at the boy. "This is May Birch. We became friends before I met you."

May bowed apologetically "Sorry Brendan! I was just so excited; I didn't expect to see you so soon!" She turned to the other boy and smiled "And who are you?"

Both Red and Brendan paused in surprise, both having different reasons yet the reaction being the same.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I/HE AM/IS?!"

Red was suddenly VERY happy. He was so used to being recognized by everyone, Brendan, and his mother excluded, May certainly took him by surprise.

May suddenly was very uncomfortable. Was he a celebrity? A gym leader? She knew all of the Hoenn gym leader's by heart and none of them matched Red.

"N-No I don't know you." May finally replied. Red quickly smiled, noticing her discomfort, and held out a hand "I'm Red, from Kanto. I came here to do some training." And to get away from fangirls, but she didn't need to know that.

"Nice to meet you!" May replied shaking his hand "So what brings you out here, Brendan?"

An idea suddenly popped into Red's head. This was the daughter of a Pokemon professor, meaning she might have vast knowledge of Pokemon abilities, tactics, and more. She also looked like a new trainer too; it would be a good chance to have Brendan gain some REAL battle experience.

"He recently acquired his first Pokemon and wanted to have his first trainer battle with you."

_Brilliant. _Red thought proudly to himself as Brendan shot him a quick look of surprise.

"Uh-"

"Really? Awesome!" May exclaimed excitedly "I got my first Pokemon recently too! I won't go easy on you, Brendan!" Brendan, after a nod from Red, decided to go with it. "I-I won't ether!"

"I'll be around Oldale Town doing a bit more training. Come find me when you two finish." Red suddenly explained before jumping down a few ledges.

"Here we go! Let's rock Mudkip!

"Battle on Torchic!"

**-With Red-**

_So that's what its like to manipulate… interesting. _Red thought with a grin. He suddenly frowned and pointed to several Poochyena growling at him. "Here for a revenge fight? Use absorb."

A cry of 'CO!' was heard followed by a small shadow leaping down from the trees, quickly draining energy from every Poochyena, making them faint in a matter of seconds. Red smiled and nodded "Good. You're getting better at hitting multiple targets at once." Treecko stood up and looked proud. "I have a Pokemon back in Kanto you should meet someday." Treecko gave him a confused look and asked "Tree?" Red's smile grew wider "He's called Venusaur. A powerful grass-type like yourself. He could teach you the ultimate grass move." This new information made Treecko a VERY happy Pokemon.

"KO!" It cheered. Red laughed "Slow down. First, you must be able to CONTROL it. In order to do that, you must train!" Treecko nodded and back-flipped over a Zigzagoon that was attempting to sneak up on it and took it out with one Pound.

"Well at least he has the right attitude. I wonder how Kira is doing?"

**-Dewford Town Gym-**

"Well done! As a prize for defeating me, I present to you, the Knuckle Badge!"

Kira grinned as he took the fist shaped badge from Brawly. Three badge's in a day. A personal best! "Thanks Broly. Before I go, do you know anything about a legendary Pokemon known as Kyogre? Supposedly lives somewhere I can't fish for it? I asked Wattson and Winona and they didn't know anything."

The fighting gym leader frowned at his name being butchered, but nodded "Actually I don't, but near Lillycove City there's a mountain that has two people living at the top. I heard from another gym leader named Wallace, that they know some stuff about ancient Pokemon."

Kira's eye twitched. He had gotten off the ship in Lillycove! He was so close to a potential clue and he didn't even know it! WHY WAS HIS LUCK SO BAD?! "Thanks again." He finally said before walking out.

Kira stepped out of the gym and into a rainy Dewford Town. "Well, that was interesting. Looks like I may have to hold back after all." He said patting the bag on his waist.

"Hey! You there!"

Kira turned to the voice and tried his hardest to keep a snicker from escaping. He really did try. Honest. A few feet away, stood a man dress in what seemed to be a pirate uniform. Blue bandana on the head with a strange symbol, a striped black and white shirt and blue pants.

Yup, pirate. No other explanation.

"Ahoy there, can I help you?"

The man grinned and walked up to him, hand outstretched. "The talk of the town is, you're looking into ancient Pokemon."

Ears perked in interest, check.

Shake the interesting man's hand, check.

"I am! I'm looking for a Pokemon called Kyogre!" The man suddenly laughed and patted Kira's back "Excellent! My group of….researcher's are searching for information on Kyogre too! How about joining us? We can search for it together!"

Join pirates?

"Tell me more…" Kira said with a grin mirroring the man's grin.

**-Route 103-**

May watched her Mudkip slump to the ground in defeat. "Mudkip! Awww, return!" Brendan gave a sigh of relief as he returned Torchic. It had been an extremely close battle. Scratch attacks had been ordered, Tackle attacks had been dodged, and Growls on both sides had been suffered. Close battle indeed.

"Wow! That was great! Brendan, you're pretty good!" May exclaimed shaking Brendan's hand again. Brendan turned a little red at the praise and nodded "You were incredible too, May. I hope we have battles like that in the future! We'll both be even stronger by the next one!" May blushed a bit, thanking whatever divine power sent him to Littleroot Town.

**-?-**

"Hey, Arceus, a human girl is praising you and your powers."

"Well send her the regular complementary gift and send her on her way! I'm trying to keep track of that moron speaking with the blue pirate!"

**-Back on route 103-**

The trees above the two began rustling, usually a sign of a Pokemon leaping through them, and a Rare Candy suddenly fell out of them and landed on May's head. "Ow! What the-" May grabbed the offending candy and, having not recognizing it as a Rare Candy, chucked it into the bushes nearby, which happened to be a nest for a group of Zigzagoon. Many of them were extremely confused during the next moment as one of them ate the sudden gift, and evolved into a Linoone. And that Linoone instantly became the leader of that group.

But enough about them.

"Well, I guess I should be heading back to the lab." May suddenly said, breaking the near minute silence between the two. "Oh yeah, about the lab…" Brendan began to explain only to be cut off by May "Come on! You can come meet my dad!"

"But I already-"

And off the ledge she went. "Guess I might as well go find master Red…"

**-Oldale Town Pokemon Center-**

"Really? You won, huh? Good job."

"TOR!"

"Alright, alright! You did well too!"

"Thank you for waiting! Your Torchic and Treecko are now fully healed!" The nurse bowed "We hope to see you again!"

As the two walked out of the center, Red sighed. "I swear, they are all twins or something." Brendan shrugged and laughed "Well at least the service is free everywhere. You sure they ALL look the same? Even the Kanto ones?" "Even the Kanto ones!" Red replied "It drives me crazy!" Treecko sat atop Red's hat and took in the sights of the small town, including a woman standing next to a house mumbling about 'saving her progress'.

"You sure it's alright for it to be up there? We're kinda being stared at…" Brendan muttered trying to avoid the strange looks some of the people were giving them. Red shrugged "It's not that big of a deal. I have a Pikachu in Kanto that does the same thing sometimes."

"Well yeah, but-"

"BRENDAN! RED! OVER HERE!" He seemed to be interrupted a lot.

That's fanfiction for ya.

Both trainers searched for the voice and found May waving over at them from the southern entrance. "Over here! Let's go!"

"Well, at least you won't be bored on this trip."

"Shut up master."

**-Littleroot Town, Prof. Birch's lab.-**

After a few minutes of chasing the infinite energy that was May. All three FINALLY, she really shouldn't have gotten distracted by that Wurmple nest, made it back to Birch's lab.

"Hello there, Red, Brendan, May. Welcome back to Littleroot!" The professor said. Brendan, tired from chasing May, sat down on the large couch nearby with a groan. May plopped down next to him and laughed.

"Dad! Guess what? Brendan beat me on his first try! Isn't that incredible?!"

Birch smiled to his daughter and nodded to Brendan "Well done, Brendan. May has been helping me with my research for a long time now. She already had an extensive history as a trainer, so defeating her was no small thing, I assure you!" He quickly turned and pulled out a small red not-laptop. Red grinned as memories of getting his pokedex suddenly came back to him. "That's a pokedex!"

Brendan eyed the not-laptop curiously as Birch handed it to him "Here Brendan, I ordered this for my research, but I think you should have it." Red pulled out his smaller not-laptop and began explaining how it worked.

"The pokedex is a high-tech tool that automatically makes a record of any Pokemon you meet or catch. Even ones you've obtained prior to obtaining the pokedex are registered. You can use it to check out data on Pokemon like where they live and other functions."

"Wow. This little box can do all that?" Brendan asked opening the pokedex and reading Torchic's data. Am electronic female voice suddenly began speaking.

_**Torchic**_

_**The chick Pokemon.**_

_**Inside its body is a place where it keeps a small flame. Hug it! It will feel like a hot water bottle.**_

"Well… it COULD work…" Red muttered while reading the entry again.__

"That's great! You get a pokedex too, just like me! Here, I have something for you too!" May exclaimed holding out five small red and white balls.

"Ah! Pokeballs! The ultimate trainer tool!" Brendan said pocketing the balls. "It's fun if you can get a lot of Pokemon!" She then pulled out a copy of the town maps and opened it "I'm going to look all over the place because I want lots of different Pokemon! You and me, we're rivals now! We'll likely meet again down the road. Let's battle again when we do!"

"You bet! I'm looking forward to it!" Brendan agreed. An invisible pact was made between the two. Like Red and Blue, Brendan and May were now rivals forever. "Come on, Brendan. We better go see if Green's awake." May perked up at the possibility of another friend "Who's Green?"

**-In an unknown location-**

Kira found himself in what looked to be an underground facility underneath Lillycove City. Many people dressed like pirates were running around setting up large machines, some were typing away, while others trained fiercely against each other in battle.

"This is Team Aqua's headquarters. This is where we research the sea and Kyogre." The same man from Dewford explained as he led Kira through dozens of rooms. "Looks like you guys have lots of money, to be able to run this much stuff at once. The teleport pads are a nice touch." The suddenly serious man simply nodded as they finally entered a small room. The small room simply had a few pictures here and there on the walls and a large desk with an obviously tall man sitting in it.

"Judging by the tall man sitting behind the desk, this must be the leader's room." Kira noted looking around the rather small room. The man leading Kira suddenly snapped into a salute.

"Sir Archie! Admin James reporting! I've found and recruited someone who is willing to join Team Aqua!"

The chair spun around evil-villain style, revealing a tall man wearing the same blue bandana the others were wearing. This man however, wore a black suit with no undershirt, black slacks, and strangely enough, no shoes. The symbol on the bandana appeared on a small metal chain around his neck. What Kira noticed the most however, was the man's BEARD. That's right, his beard.

"Ahoy there, Blackbeard!" Kira said with a grinning wave.

"I'll ignore that on the grounds that what you just said was a merely a quirk of yours, and NOT an attempt to insult me." The man growled. Kira shrugged in response "Whatever helps you sleep. So is it true that you guys are searching for Kyogre as well?" This seemed to brighten Archie's mood, as he instantly began smiling "That is correct! Team Aqua exists to study the sea in the hopes of expanding it with Kyogres power!"

"Good enough for me! I just want to find Kyogre!"

Archie nodded "Well said. In that case, welcome to Team Aqua! My assistant James here has informed me of your issue involving the uniforms. I give you permission to not need to wear the uniform, as long as you wear this ID badge on you." Archie handed Kira a small badge in the shape of the Team Aqua symbol.

"On to buisness, your first assignment will be Rustburo City. We have received information on the general area of where Kyogre COULD be, and Devon Corp, which lies in Rustburo, has the necessary parts needed for our submarine to make it that far underwater. Go there and retrieve the parts by any means necessary!"

Kira grinned and saluted "Aye, aye, Captain Blackbeard!"

_**Reviews lead to complementary gifts from Arceus! (Watch your heads!) **_

_**And now for this chapter's score card.**_

_**Name: Fire Red**_

_**Team: Treecko lvl 13**_

_**Name: Brendan**_

_**Team: Torchic lvl 9**_


	3. Chapter 3

-Brendan's house-

"Ah! Welcome back Red! Where is Brendan?" Brendan's mother asked as Red came in. He noted a lack of Green on the sofa. "He still at Prof. Birch's lab with May. I think he's doing a bit of studying. Where's Green?"

"In here, Red!" Came a voice from the kitchen area. Green came out carrying a tray of food. Red sighed "No offense intended, Green, but were you cooking?" Green pouted, set the tray down on the table, and placed her hands on her hips "And what is THAT supposed to mean? I've been practicing with Mrs. Sapphire!" Red eyed the tray suspiciously "By practicing, do you mean she showed you what to do, or did you add secret ingredients when she wasn't looking?"

Green huffed and shoved Red's face near the tray. "EAT ONE!" "Ow, alright, alright!" He picked up one of the small cookies and bit of half of it. "Well…. At least it doesn't have hot sauce all over it like last time…it's pretty good actually. Looks like you improved a bit while I was gone."

"Of course!" Green said with a grin "I practiced with Mrs. Fire and Mrs. Sapphire! So when are we heading out?" Red shrugged "Whenever Brendan returns, I suppose. He's coming with us."

Just then, the door swung open. "I'm home!" Brendan exclaimed "Master Red! Come on! I want to get going as soon as possible!" Green quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to trap the oncoming laughter… and failed miserably. "M-M-Master?!"

As Green fell to the floor laughing, Red groaned and rubbed his temple "Thanks, Brendan. Now she'll never let me forget that. Did you finish your buisness with the professor? Once we leave, we won't be coming back for awhile." Mrs. Sapphire smiled "Don't worry Brendan. I can look after the house by myself. Go have fun."

Red snorted "Yeah. Fun. With my luck, Team Rocket or some other criminal organization will be right around the corner…" Green rolled her eyes "Come on, Red. That happened ONE time. This is Hoenn! What's the worst that can happen?"

**-Rustburo City. Outside Devon Corp.-**

"Alright, do you understand the plan?" Kira asked the grunt standing beside him. The grunt nodded "Yes, sir. I run around blowing things up, while you run inside and steal the parts!"

"That's plan B. Plan A is we blend in. Walk in. Take the parts secretly. And walk out. Fool proof."

The two suddenly hid behind a streetlamp as a man walked out of the large building carrying a box, followed quickly by an older man. "Johnson, I'm counting on you to have these parts delivered safely to Captain Stern in Slateport." The man known as Johnson nodded "Yes sir! Don't worry about a thing! These special submarine engine parts are completely safe with me and the elite bodyguard Pokemon you are letting me borrow!"

"Ok, this complicates things." Kira sighed.

The older man nodded and patted Johnson's shoulder 'Good man! Make sure those six Wurmple do their duty!"

"I take it back, let's get him!"

**-Route 102-**

"Treecko, use Absorb!"

Treecko nodded and used its speed to get behind a wild Ralts before draining it of its energy. The Ralts wobbled back and forth tiredly. "And now the finisher!" Red announced as he tossed a pokeball at it. Ralts was quickly swallowed up and the ball wobbled once.

Twice.

Three times.

Click.

"Awesome!" Brendan exclaimed as he watched. Red chuckled and picked up the pokeball "It's a good idea to get at least a full team of 6 Pokemon. That way, you have more options in battle." "Yup. And try to have different types of Pokemon. Don't just focus on one type. That's a gym leader's job." Green chimed in. "Gotcha! Here I go!" Brendan exclaimed as he dashed into the tall grass.

"Your disciple is energetic." Green laughed. "Could you please not call him that?" Red groaned. Green suddenly gasped and grinned "I wonder how Blue would react if he learned you have a student?" Red had a horrified look appear on his face "You wouldn't…"

"Master!"

Red sighed and turned to Brendan, who was waving a pokeball around. "Already?" Red asked in surprise. Brendan nodded and opened the pokeball. In flash, a small blue shape with a large green leaf pad covering it appeared.

"Lo?" It wondered.

"Not bad. Quicker than I thought. Go do a bit more training. I have some buisness to take care of in Petalburg." Brendan nodded, returned Lotad, and quickly dashed deeper into the tall grass. "I'll stay here and coach him." Green said as she jumped down from the branch she sat on and followed Brendan.

**-Petalburg Pokemon Center-**

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" The nurse greeted in her customary friendly tone. Red showed her the letter he had received from Mrs. Sapphire "Do you know where I can find a man named Norman? I have a letter for him." The nurse nodded "Of course I do! He's the gym leader around here. The gym is actually right around the corner."

Red nodded and handed the nurse two pokeballs. "Thanks, and heal these two please."

Five minutes later, Red exited and turned the corner. Sure enough, a large building with a sign in front that read 'Gym' stood next to a small pond. "How did I miss that?" Red wondered aloud as he entered the large building.

"Hm? Who are you?" A tall man stood in the center of the room Red stepped into. The man wore a simple red jacket and grey jeans with his hair slicked back. "Er, hello… I'm looking for Norman?" Red studied the man carefully. At a glance, he could tell this man was powerful. The man nodded "Well, you found him. I'm Norman. Can I help you?"

Red said nothing, but handed Norman the letter addressed to him. After skimming through it, the mans mood instantly brightened "I see! Welcome to Hoenn, Red. I should formally introduce myself. I am the Petalburg leader Norman Sapphire."

"How do you know my name?" Norman held up the letter "This is a letter of introduction. My wife wants me to guide you and Brendan, who by the way is my son, to the first gym. Where is Brendan? The letter says he's supposed to be traveling with you." Red pointed in the direction of route 102 "I have him doing some training back in route 102." Norman smiled "Good. He'll need it if he wants to challenge the Pokemon League. It's his dream you see."

A green haired boy suddenly walked in. Judging by the boy's nervous look, he was the shy sort. "Um... I… I'd like to get a Pokemon, please…"

Norman nodded and looked the boy over a few times "You… You're Wally, right?" Wally nodded "I'm going to stay with my relatives in Verdanturf Town. I thought I would get lonely by myself. So I thought I'd take a Pokemon along. But I… I've never caught a Pokemon before. I don't know how…"

Red mentally groaned. He was already teaching one trainer. What's one more? "No problem. I'll help you out." He said with a thumbs up. Wally looked at Red in surprise "Who are you?" Norman chuckled and patted Red's back "This boy is none other than the champion of the Kanto region. Trust me when I say you could learn a lot from this boy."

Red sighed. He wasn't even going to try to explain his champion status anymore…

Norman pulled out a pokeball and handed it to Wally. The green haired boy proceeded to open the ball and a Zigzagoon popped out and grinned. "Here, Wally, I'll lend you one of my Pokemon."

**A/N: I will be referencing Zigzagoon a lot. They are hilarious.**

Wally gasped as the Zigzagoon suddenly leapt into his arms. "Oh, wow! A Pokemon!" He laughed and began petting Zigzagoon. "Hm… I'll also give you a pokeball. Go for it!"

Wally accepted the empty pokeball gratefully and bowed, while slightly inconveniencing Zigzagoon. "Yes sir! Thank you!" He turned to Red, a hopeful look in his eyes "Red…will you really come with me?" Red laughed and gave Wally another thumbs up before following him out of the gym.

Norman watched Red leave, eyebrow raised in interest. "So that's the world's most powerful trainer… I better inform the other gym leader's…."

**-Route 102-**

Red watched Wally shifted around nervously in the middle of the tall grass area. "Red… Pokemon hide in tall grass like this, don't they? Please watch me and see if I can catch one properly…" A patch nearby began rustling. Wally gasped and watched the patch, ready for anything…

Well, let's be honest. Being ready for ANYTHING is a matter of opinion… a fact proven as a wild Ralts suddenly leapt out of the grass and latched onto Wally's face, causing him to cry out and fall backward into the grass.

Ahhh fanfiction… able to twist a normal event into something completely random…

Glorious.

Red held back a laugh and helped Wally up after making sure the Ralts was off him. "Ah…that scared me… Oh! A Ralts!" Red nodded and pointed to Zigzagoon's pokeball "Can't start a battle without calling out your own Pokemon." Wally nodded "R-Right! Go Zigzagoon!" The small brown raccoon appeared in a flash, ready for battle! Ralts, seeing a Pokemon glaring at it, assumed a fighting stance. "A-Alright Zigzagoon! Tackle!" Zigzagoon nodded and head-butted the psychic Pokemon, scoring a critical hit!

"Alright, Wally! It's health is low! Go for it!"

Wally nodded again and pulled out the empty pokeball and threw it. The ball wobbled once.

Twice.

A 'click' was heard on the third wobble. Success!

Wally picked up the pokeball and stared at it in wonder. "I…I did it… My new friend!" Wally dashed up to Red and bowed "Thank you, Red! Let's head back to the gym!"

**-Outside Rustburo City, south entrance-**

"You moron! I can't believe you tried to scare him!"

Kira and the grunt were now 'playing' Hide & Seek with the Devon employee around Route 104. The chase had begun, when the grunt decided that the best course of action was to scare the employee and hope he would drop the goods in fright. Just the opposite, as it turns out, Hoenn people weren't as easy to frighten as originally thought, as was proven when the grunt was quickly thrown to the ground via box to head followed by a shriek of "THIEVES!" which led to the man escaping with the goods.

Good thing he hadn't seen Kira's face. Made it a LOT easier to escape Rustburo City without injury… unlike the grunt.

"How was I supposed to know he would react like that?!" The grunt yelled angrily while rubbing the side of his head. Kira rolled his eyes and stopped in front of a large lake. "Next time, we STICK TO THE PLAN! Search Petalburg Woods. I'll check out the north exit."

**-Petalburg Gym-**

Norman looked up from his paperwork as Red and Wally stepped into the gym. "So, did it work out?" He asked with a smile. Seeing Wally's happy face told him all he needed to know. Wally nodded vigorously "Yes it did! Thank you sir!" He quickly pulled our Zigzagoon's ball and handed it to Norman "Here's your Pokemon back!" Wally then turned to Red "Red… Thank you for coming with me! You two are the reason why I was able to catch my new friend! I promise I'll take really good care of him!"

Red shook his head and placed a hand on Wally's shoulder "No, Wally. It was your own determination. You did it all by yourself. Never doubt yourself as a trainer, or your Pokemon will begin to doubt you as well." Wally nodded "Thank you, Red! I better get going, my mom is probably waiting for me!"

Red smiled as he watched Wally run off. "I better be going too. We have to get through Petalburg Woods before nightfall." Norman nodded "Just past Petalburg Woods lies Rustburo City. The gym challenge starts there." "Thanks. See you soon."

Turning to leave, Red opened the door and bumped into a man with shades dressed in a blue Hawaiian style shirt and whit shorts. "Whoa! Excuse me, young trainer! I'm just here to see Norman!" Red nodded and moved so the man could get by.

"Master!"

And there was Brendan, standing next to the Pokemon Center with Green sitting on the ground next to him, waving.

**-Petalburg Woods-**

"So that man was a recruiter for this Battle Frontier?"

Brendan nodded excitedly "The Battle Frontier is AWESOME! It's open every other year because the island it's on is so large, it actually takes an entire year to clean!" Red tried to imagine an island that large, but failed. "It's like the region gym challenges. You go to each arena, which has its own rules, collect symbols, and basically become the best."

Brendan stared at Green, respect gleaming in his eyes "Wow! You must have done a ton of studying to know all of that by heart! You forgot one thing though, you have to collect symbols, BUT there are TWO challenges you have to complete: the silver challenge, and the gold challenge." "Eh? What's the difference besides the names?" Green asked in a confused tone. "The gold challenge is MUCH tougher than the silver challenge! One year, they even used legendary Pokemon in the battles!" He taped EVERY Battle Frontier battle too, but he would NEVER let ANYONE learn that.

Red suddenly froze, a Slakoth went flying overhead in an attempt to tackle him and failed, landing in a nearby bush. Not that any of them noticed. "Shh! Do you hear that?"

"HE-HE-HELP ME!"

Brendan gasped "Someone's in trouble! Come on, master!" Red groaned in response, but, after a slap on the shoulder, ran after him.

The trio followed the cries and found a man being chased by a…. a…..

"PLEASE tell me that isn't a pirate…" Red pleaded. Green rubbed her eyes a few times to make sure.

"Yup. That's a pirate."

He sighed. It couldn't be a gym leader, or even a random trainer could it? No…it HAD to be a PIRATE of all things!

"Arrrgh! You will pay for that head shot earlier!" The grunt snarled as he tackled the man to the ground. "It was a reflex! You shouldn't have snuck up on me!" The man countered. The grunt growled and reached out to take the box the man was carrying "Whatever! Just hand over the goods!" With a sudden burst of speed from who-knows-where, the man shrieked and hid behind Brendan. "You! You're a Pokemon trainer right?! Save me!"

"Hey! I don't-"

The grunt laughed as he looked the group of teenagers over. "What, you're gonna protect this guy? No one who crosses Team Aqua gets any mercy, not even a kid!" He suddenly pulled a pokeball from his belt "Come on! Battle me!"

Red nudged Brendan towards the grunt and nodded. "Go ahead Brendan, if this guy is what I think he is, you won't have any trouble at all." The grunt growled and tossed his pokeball "Why you little-! Get me that box, Poochyena!" The all too familiar black and gray puppy appeared in front of its master and glared menacingly at Brendan, who tossed his own pokeball "Battle on, Torchic!"

Green watched the small orange chick mimic Poochyena's glare and blushed faintly

"So…cute…"

Red sighed and grabbed her shoulder lightly "Easy, Green. Remember the situation we're in. Cuteness comes AFTER the fight."

A few ember's later, the grunt quickly recalled his Pokemon and stared at Brendan in surprise. "You gotta be kidding! You're tough!"

Red sweatdropped at this. "Seriously? No offense intended, Brendan, but if Team Aqua think's a TEENAGER is tough, then you guy's must be a terrible group!" The grunt glared at Red "If my superior was here, you wouldn't stand a chance! You've got some nerve messing with Team Aqua! I'll let you go today, but next time, you'll be facing BOTH of us!"

With a cry of "RETREAT!" The Aqua grunt quickly turned and ran away. Seeing the grunt was gone, the man laughed and jumped out from behind Brendan "Whew! That was awfully close! Thanks to you, he didn't steal this important engine part!" He said. The man quickly pulled out a small blue pokeball and handed it to Brendan "I know! I'll give you a Great ball as thanks!" Before Brendan, or anyone else could get a word in, the man suddenly assumed a thinking pose "One thing worries me… that guy said he had a partner. If that partner was with him in Rustburo City…!"

He suddenly gasped "Uh-oh! It's a crisis! I can't be wasting time here! I've got to get back to Devon right away!" In a flash, the man was speeding down the path. Brendan turned and sighed "That guy wore me out, and I didn't even do anything!" Red nodded in agreement and pointed down the path "Come on, we're almost there."

**-30 minute's later, Rustburo City Pokemon Center-**

"Finally made it…" Green groaned as she did a few stretches. They had to make a MASSIVE detour in the woods due to the sheer amount of trees. And there were Wurmple.

LOT'S of Wurmple.

"So…*pant* many *pant* bug Pokemon…." With a groan, Brendan collapsed in a heap on the nearby sofa. Red shrugged "Meh, I've dealt with worse. You should visit Mt. Moon in Kanto. You can't take three steps without getting attacked by a Zubat." Green glared at Red as he finished "I did NOT need to be reminded of that!" Seeing Brendan's curious look, Green glared at Red again "Don't. Say. A WORD." Red cracked a grin, but said nothing, much to Brendan's displeasure.

"Whoa! Is that Flaming and Grass I see?"

Green twitched at the nickname and quickly spun around. There, in the entrance to the Pokemon Center, stood Kira, watching the trio with a grin. "Kira…" Green growled. "Who is he?" Brendan asked. "We met him on the way to Hoenn. He's a bit strange, but he knows a lot." Red replied with a wave to Kira. "What brings you three to Rustburo?" Kira asked as he handed six pokeball's to the nurse.

"The gym challenge of course! Came Brendan's quick reply "I'm here to get my first badge!" Kira pulled out a small box and placed it on the table next to him "Hope you got some training in, Nadnerb. Ennaxor isn't like the regular trainers around here. She's a gym leader for a reason." "Nadnerb? Ennaxor?" Brendan said, confused. Red grabbed the box and opened it, shock quickly appeared on his face "It's only been a day or two since we met on the ship! How do you already have three badges?!"

Kira shrugged in response "Luck, speed, power and a damn-fine team! I get around by flying instead of walking, so I guess that helps too. I'm planning a trip to Lavaridge after I meet a friend here. He's helping me with the search." "Kira is searching for a Pokemon called Kyogre." Red quickly explained, seeing even more confusion on Brendan's face. "Have you found any leads yet?" Green asked. Kira laughed and nodded "I have, actually! I found a bunch of people doing research on the sea and Kyogre, we compared notes and I joined them! But enough about me, what's with the disciple?"

Red's eye twitched. He had almost forgotten about Kira's ability. "Well I-"

"Master's gonna train me! And then when I'm strong enough, I'm gonna climb Mt. Silver!" Kira's eyes quickly widened and he seemed to fall into deep thought.

"Mt. Silver… Between Johto and Kanto… wasn't that where…" His face paled. "Um, are you alright?" Green asked. This broke Kira out of his thoughts and he grinned "Perfectly fine! Just remembered something from the past!"

"Thank you for waiting! You're Pokemon have been fully healed!"

Kira nodded and took the balls back. "Well, my partner and I planned to meet up near the south entrance to Rustburo, so I guess this is where we part for now. I'll see you three later. Good luck with the gym, Nadnerb!" With a wave, Kira exited the Pokemon Center. "I wish he wouldn't come up with strange nicknames…" Green muttered. Brendan laughed "I thought he was funny! Maybe I can battle him sometime!" After a few seconds of thinking, Red suddenly began laughing.

"I get it! It's Brendan and Roxanne, backwards!"

**-Rustburo City, south entrance-**

"Where the heck is he?! Why does no one follow the plan? WHY?!"

"B-Boss!"

Kira watched the Aqua grunt speed towards him and screech to a halt. "Finally! Were you able to secure the parts?" The grunt looked terrified "N-no. These three kids got in my way and beat me, so I retreated!"

'Must be Flaming, Grass, and Nadnerb…' Kira thought with a smile. "Call Captain Blackbeard. Tell him, I have discovered an easier way to get the parts. Do NOT mention this failure." The grunt looked at him as if he were insane for defying Archie.

"GO!"

The grunt saluted and sped off. Kira suddenly began laughing, his laughter slowly becoming more and more maniacal. He just as suddenly stopped and pulled out a radio.

"Frodo to Gandalf. Frodo to Gandalf. You read me?" A much-too deep voice suddenly boomed over the radio, scaring away a bunch of nearby Magikarp.

**"You are a moron, you know that? What kind of person comes up with nicknames like Ennaxor, and Nadnerb? Why the hell are you calling me Gandalf? Who the heck is Gandalf? Or Frodo?"**

Kira grumbled about jerkish bosses and sighed "Fine, I'll just call you boss. Satisfied?"

**"Very." **The deep voice replied. **"What is your status on finding Kyogre?"**

Kira rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that. I know your watching me right now. You KNOW I found Team Aqua! Permission, to proceed to Phase 2?"

**"Granted. I'm sending in the Pink Panther as back-up."**

Kira suddenly became very scared. "You aren't… I can finish this one by myself! I don't need Pink Panther! Besides, she's still up on Mt. Silver!"

**"Too late. She is already on her way."**

"You can't do this to me!"

Thunder seemed to erupt over the radio.

**"I CAN, WILL, AND IN THE FUTURE, SHALL HAVE DONE! SUCK IT UP AND FIND KYOGRE BEFORE TEAM AQUA DOES!"**

The radio cut to static and Kira groaned before casting suspicious looks all over the area. The Pink Panther was known to come out of absolutely no-where. She even scared the hell out of him once, by literally appearing in thin-air!

"KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRR RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

A small pink object suddenly slammed into Kira from behind, sending him flying into the lake. As Kira surfaced, he spat out some water and glared at the Pokemon floating next to him. "Mew! Why do you have to tackle me EVERY time?!"

The floating pink cat began hugging Kira's head and cried. "Kira! It was SO cold up there! And there were these Skarmory EVERYWHERE! One kept bragging about how it had attacked a human! Oh! Moltres came by to visit me sometimes! I think he's cranky about that one human living on the mountain! And then he began…"

Kira sighed as he drowned Mew's telepathic voice out. Once she started rambling, it would take her forever to stop… Sometimes he wondered if his superior did this on purpose…

"Boss!"

His mouth quickly curled up into a grin. Salvation! "Eep! Pirate!" Mew shrieked in his head before turning invisible. Well, that was one problem solved.

**-Rustburo Pokemon Center-**

"Thank you for waiting, your Pokemon have been restored to full health!" The nurse did her customary bow. "Please come again!"

"I'm beginning to think they read from scripts…" Red muttered as the trio stepped into the city. Green nodded in agreement "I see them glancing down below the desk every now and then. I think it's some kind of-"

"GYM!" Brendan interrupted with a shout.

Red screeched to a halt and looked at the building Brendan pointed out. "That's your first stop then." Red said as he lightly pushed Brendan towards the gym. "Huh? Aren't you battling the leader too, master?" Green quickly grabbed Brendan and ushered him inside, leaving Red alone outside.

"Don't worry about him. He always does this before a gym battle. I'll watch you get your badge!"

Red chuckled and pulled out Treecko's pokeball "Now that I'm alone, I can do some HEAVY training!" Red grinned when he noticed the ball nudge forward slightly, as if it was nodding. Then again, he hasn't gotten much sleep yet so that could be it too.

Meanwhile, inside the gym. Brendan and Green quickly found what appeared to be the gym leader near the back of the building. A woman wearing a teacher's uniform with brown hair tied down into two ponytails.

"Welcome challengers!" The woman said "I am Roxanne, leader of the Rustburo City gym! The rules of my gym state, that if you wish to challenge me, you must defeat each of my six assistants in double battles!" Brendan groaned as six people came out of the nearby doors, each one with a pokeball in hand. "You're going to make me do this all by myself, aren't you?" He muttered with a glance to Green while pulling out Torchic and Lotad's pokeballs.

Green smiled and nudged Brendan forward. "Chin up! You can do it! This is what you have been training for!" Brendan whimpered as the six trainers each called out their Pokemon one by one, until each had two Pokemon. "But I only have two Pokemon to use against twelve!" Green shrugged, and in an uncaring tone, repeated "This is what you've been training for."

**-Route 116-**

"In-Incredible!"

Deciding to get some heavy duty training in for Treecko and Ralts, Red decided to battle each and every trainer on Route 116, all at once. Needless to say, he succeeded. Three Bug Catchers and two Hiker's all went to the Pokemon Center in defeat that day. With a flip, a large green gecko landed gracefully next to a pirouetting Kirlia.

"Nicely done, Grovyle. Look's like you are getting used to your new size quite well. And your psychic abilities are growing stronger and stronger, Kirlia." Red nodded to his team with a smile. Grovyle nodded and thumped his chest with a grin, while Kirlia mirrored Red's smile and struck a pose. "Come on, let's see if we can find a few more trainers." Red said, returning Grovyle and Kirlia, and continuing down the route.

"OUTTA THE WAY!"

Red was nearly knocked over, as the same Team Aqua grunt from Petalburg woods came running past him, a small Wingull in his arms. "H-Hey!" Red yelled. An old man suddenly ran by Red screaming "PEEKOOOOOOO!"

After a while of following the grunt, Red found himself at the mouth of a small cave. The old man from earlier was sitting in front of it looking depressed. "Ohhh, what am I to do?" Being the good person that he was, Red went over and asked "Excuse me, is something wrong? I saw you chase after that guy."

The old man looked up at Red and sighed "We were on our walk, Peeko and I, when we were jumped by that… that thug! The scoundrel made off with my darling Peeko!" The old man, suddenly full of energy, jumped up and roared.

"Wrroooooooar! PEEKO!"

Pushing aside the fact that the old man was now roaring and yelling Peeko's name over and over again, Red couldn't stand by while a thug like that grunt was stealing Pokemon! Realization dawned, and Red sighed as he entered the cave. "This seems just like Lavender Town… only a lot less serious…"

_**Scorecard update**_

_**Name: Fire Red**_

_**Team: Grovyle lvl 21**_

_**Kirlia lvl 20**_

_**Name: Brendan Sapphire**_

_**Team: Torchic lvl 15**_

_**Lotad lvl 14**_

_**Name: Leaf Green**_

_**Team: TBR**_


	4. Chapter 4

**-Rustburo City Gym-**

"Well done, challenger!" Roxanne announced clapping her hand's while the last of her six assistant's walked out of the gym in defeat. Brendan and his Pokemon were both drained from the long and exhausting battles. Combusken slumped to the floor, tired after battling so many Pokemon in a row, while Lombre threw a few air-punches, ready for more.

"Great job, Brendan. Now all that's left is the gym leader!" Green said as she healed Brendan's Pokemon. Brendan groaned while Roxanne readied three pokeballs. "It's been a while since I've seen such an exciting challenger!"

Brendan rolled his eyes and muttered "If she think's I'M exciting, just wait till master Red get's here…" Green suddenly gasped as Brendan finished muttering. "Hey that's right! Where IS Red? He should have been back a few minutes ago!" "Pardon?" Roxanne began  
There is another challenger? Where is he?"

Green shrugged "I don't know. Last time he showed up late was when Team Rocket gained control of Saffron City. Knowing him, he's probably helping someone or something similar."

**-Rusturf Tunnel-**

"Come on… Is that all you got?"

Red sighed as the Team Aqua grunt's Poochyena fainted. Kirlia did a small pirouette and posed gracefully as she landed next to Red. "This is just not right…" The grunt muttered. "The boss said this would be a slick-and-easy job to pull. All I had to do is steal some package from Devon with my partner! Instead I end up stealing some old man's useless Pokemon!"

The grunt snarled and returned Poochyena to its ball. "Tch, you want this Pokemon back? Then take it!" The grunt shoved a pokeball into Red's hands and stormed out of the tunnel just as the old man from earlier came in.

"Peeko!" The old man quickly snatched the pokeball out of Red's hand and opened it, releasing a small seagull. The old man sighed in relief. "Am I glad you are safe!" He then turned to Red and smiled "Peeko owes you her life! They call me Mr. Briney. Please, tell me your name so I can thank you properly!"

Red nodded "I'm Fire Red, but you can call me Red." Briney nodded and shook Red's hand gratefully "I sincerely thank you, Red! Now if there is anything that trouble's you, don't hesitate to tell me! You can usually find me in my cottage by the sea near Petalburg Woods! Now, Peeko, we should be getting home!" The Wingull nodded and chirped happily to Red before following Briney out of the cave.

Red gave a low sigh and looked around the cave. It looked like it went in deeper, but the rather LARGE boulder's blocking the way changed Red's mind quickly. With another sigh, he pulled out both pokeballs and grinned "You two ready for the big leagues?"

"Whoa! Twice in one day!"

In walked, Kira, surprise all over his face. A strange tiny ripple in the air followed close behind him. "Hey, Kira. I was just about to head back to Rustburo City. What are you doing here?" Kira looked over the large boulders a few times as he spoke "I'm heading back to the lab. You know, the one where we're researching Kyogre? However, it appears this boulder is blocking my path…"

Red nodded "Yeah, I was going to explore for a little bit longer but-"

"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam."

Red watched in amazement as the all-too familiar form of Dragonite appeared and released a massive golden beam from its mouth. The boulder didn't even make it to fragments. "Wha- A Dragonite?!" Red exclaimed. Now that he looked closer, this Dragonite was a slightly dark green instead of the regular yellow color. "Yeah, isn't he awesome? Boulder to dust in two seconds!" Kira laughed.

"That was cool! Not as cool as Moltres, or Lugia, but it's up there!"

Red jumped at the sudden shout. "Who said that?!" Kira sighed and shook his head "Way to go. Now he knows you're here…" The tiny ripple shimmered for a few seconds before assuming the form of a tiny pink cat-like Pokemon. A voice quickly entered Red's mind.

"Hey! I think he's the one Moltres was talking about, Kira! The trainer who was on Mt. Silver!" The Pokemon then tilted its head in confusion "But… why all the red? What's wrong with pink?" Red gaped at the floating Mew, who tilted her head as she stared back at Red. "Look! Look! Now his mouth is hanging open! Isn't he funny, Kira?"

Kira groaned "Mew, Red. Red, Mew. Introductions settled? Alright then. Come on, Mew, we have places to be, things to do and all that."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Now both Mew and Kira were staring at Red in confusion. "What?" They said in unison. "What are you doing with a legendary Pokemon?!" Red asked aloud. Kira shrugged "In my defense, Mew just met up with me… after she sent me into a bloody LAKE!" Mew had an offended look appear on her face "Hey! It's not my fault you left me up on Mt. Silver! I was so…. so…" Mew suddenly began crying again and hugged Kira's head.

"You see what I have to deal with?" Kira said as he pulled Mew off his head. "Alright, alright, come on Mew. We have to get to Lillycove City." Mew's eyes suddenly lit up, instantly forgetting what she was doing. "New places?! YAY!" She cried as she began flying around and around Kira before shooting further down the cave. "Wait, I thought you said you travel by flying?" Red asked. Kira slowly nodded "I did indeed. So what?"

"So what are you doing in this cave? You have a perfectly good Dragonite to fly around on." Said Dragonite had an embarrassed look from the attention from the unfamiliar trainer. Kira shrugged and returned Dragonite to it's ball "Mew wanted to check out this cave. Speaking of Mew, you're taking her appearance quite well."

"Well to be honest, Mew did catch me off guard. But after that, it's not a big deal. When you've seen as many legendary Pokemon as I have, it becomes a regular thing." Kira winced as Red finished. "Ooooooh, I know a legend in Unova that would attack you if you said that around them." Red laughed and nodded "Thanks for the warning. My training is done for now, so I'm heading back to Rustburo."

Kira nodded and proceeded further into the cave, leaving Red alone in the cave. As Red prepared to leave, he suddenly stopped and turned back to Kira's direction.

"SHE?!"

**-With Kira. Three minutes later-**

"And THIS is why you don't go shooting through a cave at blinding speeds, Mew," Kira said to the floating pink cat next to him. The two were very slowly making their way through the- screw it, they were lost. VERY lost.

"But…But, Kira! It's a CAVE!" Mew replied as if it justified the situation they were in. Kira motioned for her to continue "Annnnnd?" "Well I- Oh look! A strange looking person!" She finished by pointing further in. Kira rolled his eyes "I refuse to fall for that one again. The last time I did, we- Good lord you're right."

A bit ahead of Kira and Mew stood a woman wearing a strange red hooded woman wearing a strange red uniform with a hood and everything. On the hood, was a strange symbol that closely resembled a volcano. In her gloved hand was a small gray box.

"Excellent. The plan can begin in ten… nine… eight…"

"Hi."

The woman shrieked and dropped the tiny box. The second it hit the ground, an explosion echoed from outside, shaking the cave violently, causing large boulder's to fall from the ceiling and block the way forward. As the shaking subsided, the woman turned and glared fiercely at Kira.

"What the hell do ya think you are doing, sneaking up on someone like that?! Now look what ya done! Now the tunnel is blocked off and I'll have to find another way around!" The woman snarled at Kira. She then pulled out two pokeballs "I'll teach you to mess with Team Magma, ya little punk!" Mew began watching the situation unfold with great interest.

"She's funny!"

Kira grabbed two pokeballs and sighed. "Geez, all I did was say hi. You're so hot-headed…" Mew suddenly froze for a few seconds. Her tail began twitching until she began giggling.

"Hee, hee! Hot-headed… Magma… She looks like a volcano! Hey, Kira! Think if we make her even madder, she'll erupt?" Kira's mouth curled up into a grin as the woman's face became red. "WHAT did ya call me?! I'll show YOU who is hot-headed!"

"See? She erupted! ERUPTION!"

"I'M GONNA DESTROY YOU TWO!"

**-Rustburo City Gym-**

"Great job, Brendan!" Green cheered as Nosepass fall backwards and fainted. Lombre took a bow as Brendan returned it to its ball. Roxanne nodded and held out a small metallic object. "Indeed. Well done, Challenger Brendan. As part of my duties as a Gym Leader of the Pokemon League Association, I confer upon you the Stone Badge!"

Brendan took the badge, held it up and did a short jump.

"Alright! I got the Stone Badge!"

Green quickly silenced Brendan with a light smack on his head. "If you do that again, I'll flatten you!" "Y-yes ma'am!" Why argue with the girlfriend of one's master?

"Sorry I'm late!"

Green suddenly sighed and threw her arms up "Finally! You're late, Fire Red!" Roxanne raised an eyebrow at the name. "Fire Red? As in former champion of Kanto, Fire Red? I have heard much about you." Red shrugged. Hearing someone talk about his ex-champion status no longer bothered him. "That's me. I'm here for a badge. You won, right Brendan?" Brendan nodded and showed Red the Stone Badge.

"Good. Now, it's my turn. Are you ready, Roxanne?" Roxanne chuckled and shook her head "Actually, I require a minute to heal my Pokemon. I shall return shortly." As Roxanne left the Gym, Red sat down next to Green and Brendan. "How did your training go?" Green asked. Red grinned and held up two pokeballs "I'm all set. My team has perfected their strategies and, in the case of double battles, is in perfect sync."

Green looked at Red with a smile "I'm glad you haven't changed a bit, Red. You'll always be the same… right?" Red stared at Green for a few seconds before chuckling. "Look's like you haven't changed ether, Green. Don't worry. I'll always be me." Brendan watched the couple with interest as they slowly got closer and closer to each other until they were close enough to-

"I have returned!"

Brendan groaned as Roxanne stepped onto the arena across from Red. Red and Green quickly blushed and moved away from each other. Red sighed and made his way over to his side of the arena. Roxanne cast a glance towards the blushing Green and smiled "Oh my. Did I interrupt something I shouldn't have?" Red just shook his head while tilting his cap down over his eyes. Green blushed a fierce shade of red, huffed and looked away from Roxanne.

This was an odd habit he had developed over his journey through Kanto. Before every battle, Red would cover his eyes with his cap for a few seconds. For whatever reason, it helped him focus entirely on the battle's ahead. When he brought the cap back up, the air around the gym changed completely along with a slight tingle shooting down Roxanne's back. She shivered when he suddenly glared at her and pulled out a pokeball.

_'So this is the ultimate trainer…'_Roxanne thought as she too brought out a pokeball. _'Very well! I shall not hold back!' _

"Here we go, Geodude!"

"Come on out, Kirlia!"

Two flashes later and a large...head…..rock….. A Geodude appeared across from a pirouetting Kirlia. "Don't hold back, Kirlia. Blast it with Confusion!" Kirlia's eyes began to glow a pale blue color as Geodude was quickly surrounded by a same colored aura, lifted into the air, and slammed back down t the ground.

"Are you alright, Geodude?" Roxanne asked worriedly "Use Rock Tomb!" Geodude began slamming it's fists down on the ground. The gym shook slightly as large rocks began falling down around Kirlia, only to stop just shy of flattening her.

"Good work, Kirlia. Your powers have grown even stronger. Show Roxanne what I mean with Rock Throw!" Green sighed as Brendan opened his mouth "Kirlia can't learn Rock Throw. She's just throwing the boulder's using her psychic powers." Brendan made an 'ah' sound as he returned his attention to the battle. Every boulder controlled by Kirlia slammed into Geodude, burying it in a mountain of dust and rock.

Roxanne sighed as a hole was quickly made and Geodude's defeat was confirmed, and returned it to its ball. "Well, you definitely earned your title, Red. However, it's not over yet! You're up, Nosepass!"

As large nosed Pokemon hit the field, Kirlia left the field just as quickly.

"Come on out, Grovyle."

Roxanne sighed. She would battle two trainers with grass type Pokemon in a row, wouldn't she? That damn fortune cookie lied to her!

**-Aqua hideout.-**

"So, you return in shame, having failed your mission."

In the main room of the hideout, Kira stood before Archie, who had his back turned to him. The disappointment in Archie's voice was noted by Kira, but quickly filed away under 'don't care'. Kira guessed the Aqua grunt must have blabbed about the mission.

Kira rolled his eyes and shrugged "I blame my partner. I mean, even YOU have to admit his idea was stupid. The result of said plan was a box to the head!" "Nevertheless, you failed to acquire the parts. Need I stress, how important those parts were?" The faint ripple floating behind Kira looked around the room curiously as Kira suddenly grinned "Failed? Or set those part's up to be delivered straight to us?"

If Kira could see Archie's face, he would have seen a curious eyebrow raise.

"Explain."

Kira sighed. Were these researcher's really that dumb? "I overheard the boss of Devon Corp. say where the parts were heading, a museum in Slateport City. All we have to do is set up an ambush there before the part's are delivered. Even if that fails, the submarine parts will be installed in some kind of fancy new submarine that we can steal later. THAT'S flawless planning."

Appearently this was a reasonable explanation as Archie quickly turned and smirked evilly. "Very well. You're stain has been wiped clean. I shall prepare a team to ambush the parts when they have reached Slateport City. In the mean time, I have another mission for you. For now, go to Lavaridge Town. I have a-"

"What, seriously?"

Archie glared at Kira for interrupting him "Is there a problem?" Kira quickly shook his head and grinned "No, no, no, no, no! It's just that I was planning on going to Lavaridge on my next break anyway! Sending me now couldn't have come at a better time!" Archie sighed. Why couldn't all the other member's of Team Aqua be this useful?

"Very well then. I shall send your order's to you via email once you get there. Move out!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Blackbeard!"

**-Rustburo Gym-**

Roxanne groaned as Nosepass quickly fainted under Grovyle's assault. She knew she was screwed, she was hoping to at least give the ex-champ a challenge!

"Well done Challenger Red. I present to you the Stone Badge!" Red snatched the badge with a grin and nostalgic feeling's flooded his thoughts.

_'Along with the fact that the names are similar…' _Red noted. Roxanne sighed and shook her head "You are an incredible trainer, Fire Red. I suggest for your next challenge, the island of Dewford Town. There, Brawly shall give you a greater challenge then I ever could hope to."

Green got up and stretched her arm's "Alright! Next stop, Dewford-"

"Excuse me, please!"

Everyone turned to the entrance of the gym and found the Devon Employee from Petalburg Woods jogging towards them at a rather quick pace. The man quickly grabbed Brendan, and dashed out the door yelling "PLEASE COME WITH ME! NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!"

Green watched Brendan scream for help as he was dragged out of the gym and grinned "That guy reminds me of Mr. Fuji." Red looked at Green in surprise "You too?"

**-Flashback. Lavender Tower. Top Floor-**

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

Red shook his head and sighed as a red headed woman, a pale blue haired man, and a Meowth, escaped down the stair's Red had came from.

"What a bunch of morons… I bet I'll have to deal with them again soon."

An elderly man stood at the far end of the room, staring silently out a small window. Red quickly made his way over to the old man and smiled "Mr. Fuji? My name is Red and-"

Mr. Fuji suddenly whipped around, grabbed Red by his shirt, yelled "Quick young man! Come with me! There is no time to explain here!" and was dragged out of the tower by the elder.

Outside the tower, Green sat and waited for Red to finished exploring the tower. A familiar mess of orange hair suddenly stepped out of the tower and glared at her. Green stared back in surprise.

"B-Blue!"

Blue simply glared at her for a few seconds before sighing, muttering something she couldn't hear, and storming off to who knows where. A few minutes later, an old man stomped towards her and grabbed her by her arm, yelled "You too! No time to explain! Come with me!" and was promptly pulled away.

**-Flashback end-**

**-Rustburo city-**

Outside the Pokemon center, Red and Green were discussing where to go next when a certain blue-clothed girl dashed up to Red.

"Red!"

Green narrowed her eyes at the girl but said nothing as, Red waved to the girl. "Hey… May, right?" May nodded excitedly "Yup-yup! I'm here for the Rustburo gym badge!" She then did a head count and frowned. "Hey… where's Brendan?" Green, noticing May's disappointment, relaxed slightly. "He was dragged away by a man we met earlier. But I'm sure he's fine."

"Master!" Everyone but May, who instead squealed, turned and found Brendan walking towards them calmly. In his hands, was a large box marked "FRAGILE". Red pointed to the box and could only mutter.

"Uh…."

Naturally, he was quickly shoved to the side by May. "BRENDAN!" She squealed. Brendan smiled and waved, nearly dropping the box in the process. "May! What are you doing here?" May quickly held out a small box, similar to the one Kira had shown Red.

"I'm here for the Stone Badge! It'll be my very first badge!" She said excitedly. Red chuckled nervously "Might want to hold off on that for a day. Roxanne is a little 'battled out' as it were. Facing two trainers with grass type Pokemon seems to be super effective against rock type trainers as well as Pokemon."

May groaned and nodded. "Awww… It took me three days to get through Petalburg woods! So many Pokemon nests to catalog! So many habit's to study!" She paused, noticing a small yellow device hanging off of Brendan's bag, and gasped "You have a Pokenav!"

While Red and Green processed the fact that it took three days for the girl to make it through a forest that only took the trio about 45 minutes, Brendan looked at the yellow device and shrugged "I got it from the president of Devon Corp. He also gave me a letter and this large box."

"Who's the letter for?" Green quickly asked. Brendan shuffled the box around so he could reach for his bag and pulled the letter out "Uhhh, it says 'to Steven' on the front." The yellow device was suddenly gone as May instantly began to tinker with it, not really paying attention to the trio.

"Who's Steven?" Red wondered as he looked over the envelope. The name was written in surprisingly fancy handwriting on what felt like a fancy envelope. Brendan simply shrugged again and took the device back when May handed it to him. Brendan watched as the device blinked a few times before pinging "What did you do, May?" May blushed slightly but pointed at her own Pokenav "I registered our numbers on our navs! Now we can contact each other anytime we want!"

Red and Green grinned. Back in Kanto, this was considered the first step in becoming a couple. Brendan just smiled, not noticing his master's grin "Sounds good! Hey… I don't suppose you're up for a battle?" May squealed and nodded vigorously "R-Really? Alright! This'll warm me up for the gym!"

She quickly looked at Red "That is, if it's alright with you. I know you have a-" Red quickly shoved May towards Brendan, who for the record was shoved towards May by Green.

"We'll be in Petalburg Woods. Come find us when you are finished." Red said as he set off for the woods, Green quickly following close behind.

May shrugged and smiled "Works for me! You just became a trainer, Brendan! I won't be going easy on you!" Brendan nodded and pulled out Lombre's pokeball.

"Nether will I! Battle on, Bre!"

"Let's rock, Torkoal!"

**-The mountains near Lavaridge Town-**

"Lava, Java, Ta-ta, Baba, Stoppa-"

"Mew?"

"Yes, Kira?"

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking of words that rhyme with lava, of course!"

"I can see that. Allow me to rephrase my question."

"Of course."

"WHY are you rhyming words with lava?"

"Well-"

"Will you SHUT UP?!"

"You aren't the most patient of people, are you?"

Kira sighed as the Magma grunt glared down at him. Unlike the cave from earlier, this grunt hadn't seen Mew, so she wasn't tied up like he was. Instead, she was annoying him to death by, of all things, thinking of words that rhyme with lava, while 'swimming' around his head.

"Just can it! You are a prisoner of the great Team Magma! Now talk! What were you doing so close to our base?!"

Mew tilted her invisible head to the side "Didn't he tell us to be quiet just a few seconds ago?" Kira shrugged as best as he could in his bonds. "Relax. He was talking to me, not you." The grunt suddenly rounded on Kira and snarled "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING TO?!" Kira grinned. "I'm talking to my partner, of course." He replied pointing his head towards Mew, who waved an invisible paw to the grunt. The grunt, naturally, began shaking his head and muttered "Crazy son of a…"

After a while of walking, the grunt suddenly came to a halt in front of a large boulder. He quickly held out a small golden metallic object, 'looking quite similar to the researcher's badge's…' Kira noted as he watched the boulder slide away to the right, revealing a set of stairs.

"In. Now!" The grunt snarled, shoving Kira down the stairs while watching for any passerby.

About an hour of walking through rooms filled with machinery, grunts, and lava, Kira found himself in, amusingly enough, a room fit for a leader. Even more amusing, a tall man with red hair and a black and red uniform stood exactly as Archie had when Kira had met him. "And who is this?" The man asked without turning. The grunt snapped into a salute "Sir Maxie! Grunt Johnson reporting from patrol! I followed this guy snooping around the cave nearby!"

Kira rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"For the twenty third time, I was looking for a town called Lavaridge!"

The leader began chuckling as he slowly turned to face Kira. Mentally, Kira pouted. This guy was gonna be hard to make fun of… he didn't even have a beard for crying out loud! "You were inside a cave…" The man said slowly "Looking for a town? Even a child knows the town is directly south of the nearby cave."

Kira turned slightly and glared as Mew began floating around Kira's head cheering.

"I told you~! I told you~! I even said it exactly like Mr. Volcano did! Directly south of the cave I said! It's on the other side of the mountain you said! I told you~! I told you~!"

"You just got lucky…" Kira grumbled. Maxie raised an eyebrow and asked "Who are you talking to?" Kira, again, pointed his head towards, Mew. "My partner. She's traveling with me at the moment." Johnson shook his head while Maxie raised another eyebrow and took a random swipe at the air where Kira was pointing. Luckily, Mew managed to avoid the hand just before it hit her.

"Eep! Volcano hand!"

Maxie stared at his hand a second before frowning. "Are you making fun of me?" Kira snickered in response "Not yet. I will soon enough." Maxie chuckled and turned away from Kira. "Take him to one of our cells for now. Let me know when he is ready to talk."

Kira continued to glare at Mew as he was dragged away. Mew, being curious as she was, decided to explore the place.

"Hmmmm lava, stoppa, moppa, dava, java…"

**-Rustburo City-**

"Y-Yikes! How did you improve so quickly?!"

It was over before May knew it. Lombre had taken Torkoal out with no problem. Mudkip had provided a slight challenge, but it was no match for the evolved Combusken. How?! She had been studying Pokemon with her father since she was five! But, Brendan… he seemed to know his Pokemon's strength's and weaknesses and have them completely covered!

"Awesome job, Busken! Take a break!" Brendan quickly returned his Pokemon, and ran over to May. "You were awesome too, May!" May quickly shook her head. What was she thinking? She should be glad he was doing so well! "Y-Yeah!" May replied, quickly reverting to her usual self. "Great battle, Brendan. You've improved very quickly!" Brendan blushed slightly from the praise and nodded.

"Well, I better get going before master Red, comes back looking for me. Thanks for the battle, May!" Brendan's last words quickly faded as he ran down the path out of the city. May smiled and waved after him, but frowned when he was out of sight.

What was that feeling she had after the battle? It was not a very pleasant feeling… It was almost like she was angry with him.

_**Scorecard update**_

_**Name: Fire Red.**_

_**Team: Grovyle lvl 22**_

_**Kirila lvl 21**_

_**Name: Brendan Sapphire**_

_**Team: Combusken (Busken) lvl 19**_

_**Lombre (Bre) lvl 18**_

_**Name: Leaf Green**_

_**Team: TBR**_

_**Name: Kira Thantos**_

_**Team: Dragonite lvl ? (Shiny)**_

_**TBR**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Team Magma Hideout, several hours later-**

"He's seriously creeping me out."

"I know how you feel. And I have to patrol the cells tomorrow."

"All he does is sit there, meditating with his damn eyes closed! He hasn't said a word or moved a muscle since he walked in there and sat down!"

Kira chuckled quietly as he listened in on the usefully loud guards talking about him in the break room nearby. It made it much easier to focus on what he was looking for.

"KIIIIIIIIIIRA!"

Kira's eye twitched slightly as a familiar pink ball of energy slammed into the back of his head. He barely moved an inch, mostly due to the fact that he was used to Mew doing that kind of thing randomly.

"I finally found you! It took me forever to find the cells! It was a wild adventure, filled with-" "Please tell me you found information about Kyogre…" Kira interrupted/muttered.

Mew nodded excitedly. "I did in fact! I found some interesting thing's about Kyogre and her counterpart, Groundon! Oh and there was some stuff about those researcher-friends of ours!" She then began to use her tiny paws to make strange gestures and fly around in strange patterns, almost as if she were acting out a story.

"First, after I went exploring, I followed this one guy wearing the same uniform as that volcano lady in that cave! It was fun! It was almost like being a spy! Then I decided to…"

Kira groaned mentally as he stopped paying attention and attempted to focus on the layout of the base. It was going to take him, at least, another three days to focus on finding what he was looking for. And when you were with a Pokemon like Mew…

His thoughts, along with Mew's story, were quickly interrupted when the break room door swung open and a silver haired woman, looking around Kira's age, walked in carrying a tray of food. Said woman wore the same uniform as everyone else on the base, however unlike everyone else; her hood was not covering most of her head. Instead it was down around her neck, showing off long slightly graying hair, which was strange considering how old she was.

Mew watched Kira's mouth drop in fascination as the woman slowly walked over to his cell, opened it, and set the food down with a smile.

"Beautiful."

The woman's face quickly turned crimson.

"H-Huh?!"

Mew watched with even more fascination, as Kira's face turned equally crimson. "E-Er… S-Sorry about that. Just sort of… slipped out…" The woman quickly turned and dashed out of the room, leaving the tray behind. Kira groaned and slapped his head.

"Damn… That wasn't a good start…"

Mew tilted her head in confusion. She had never seen Kira act this way. She had watched him talk with many females, including that pretty Grass lady, during their travels, but she had never seen this happen with them!

_"I wonder if he's not feeling well." _Mew wondered as she continued to watch him slap himself and mutter "stupid… stupid….stupid…" over and over again.

**-Dewford Town Gym-**

"I concede defeat! You two are incredible!"

Red breathed a quiet sigh of relief, while Brendan flashed the victory sign. Brawly had been a little challenging, even for Red. Then again, he had started with a completely new team. If he had his original team, on the other hand…

"Are you kidding? You're the most powerful gym leader I've battled!" Brendan exclaimed. Green sighed at this "He's only your second gym leader... of course he's the strongest one you've fought so far…" Red patted Green's back and chuckled. "Ah, let him have his fun. Remember what you were like during our journey in Kanto? You wouldn't stop talking about your gym battles for weeks." Green blushed faintly and pouted "H-Hey! I was ten year's old!"

Brawly quickly handed out badges to the winners and sighed "Well, if you want a real challenge, I suggest you head for Mauville City. Old man Wattson is a powerful gym leader and his grandson, who lives in Kanto, is visiting Hoenn right now. His grandson is supposed to be an incredible Electric-type user!"

Both Red and Green suddenly paled. "Do you think…?" Red began, only to be quickly interrupted by Green. "D-Don't say it! I don't want to remember!" Brendan and Brawly shared a look and shrugged.

"Quick heals please!" Green quickly handed a smiling Nurse Joy three trays of pokeballs, and ran over to a table where Red and Brendan were conversing with an elderly gentleman.

"Hohoho! So you two have defeated Brawly and received badges, eh? Not bad my young friends! Not bad at all!" Mr. Briney chuckled.

Red nodded and placed the fist shaped badge in a small box. "Yep. He was a step up from Roxanne, that's for sure." Brendan quickly nodded in agreement "Yeah, but I almost lost my battle! Brawly doesn't hold back at all!"

"They aren't supposed to hold back, you wimp!" Green sighed with a swat to the back of Brendan's head. "Ow! You don't hold back ether…" Brendan grumbled clutching his head. Mr. Briny smiled at the two before turning to Red "Now I suppose you three will want to sail to Slateport City next?"

Brendan pulled out the small envelope from Rustburo and waved it around "W-Wait! The president of DEVON asked me to deliver this letter to Steven! He said Steven was last seen around here!" Red sighed "Well it would be best if we got to Slateport as soon as possible…"

"I'll be fine by myself!"

Brendan quickly stood up and stared at Red with a serious look on his face. Mr. Briney watched with interest as Brendan continued "I'll be fine! You two go on ahead to Slateport and I'll be there before you know it!"

"Did I hear you say Steven?!"

In walked Brawly, a tray of pokeballs in hand and a grin on his face. He quickly handed the tray to the nurse and winked. "A quick heal please." "You know this Steven guy?" Brendan asked. Brawly nodded "Who DOESN'T know him? He's Hoenn's former champion!"

Red, on impulse, twitched.

"What do you mean 'former champion'?" Green asked in a confused tone. Brawly blinked a few times and stared at the trio "You mean…. You haven't heard? I thought everyone in Hoenn knew!"

"We got here from Kanto a few days ago." Green replied, pointing to Red and herself. Brendan raised a hand "My mom and I moved here around the same time. That and I haven't heard anything about Steven on the news." Brawly nodded and sighed "I understand. Well, we had a new champion crowned about a week ago. Wallace of Sootopolis defeated Steven, and became the new champion. Steven went missing and no one's heard a word about him."

Brendan handed the envelope to Brawly "Mr. Stone in Rustburo City told me to deliver this to him; he said he heard Steven was last seen around here." Brawly quickly snatched the envelope and looked at it "Wha?! We have to find him then! I'm helping you look for him!"

**-Ten minutes later-**

"So, the plan is: Me and Green will head to Slateport, deliver the parts from DEVON and wait for Brendan afterwards, while you and Brawly will search for Steven here. If he isn't found in three days, assume he's left Dewford and come to Slateport and find us. Got it?"

Brawly stared at Red, slightly surprised. "You're pretty good at planning, aren't you?" Green nodded and patted Red's back "When Team Rocket took over Saffron City a few years back, he came up with a plan good enough to take an entire building of them by surprise!" Brawly and Brendan's eyes widened as they both stared at Red, who was now covering his face with his cap. If one looked close enough, they could see a bit faint blush underneath.

"Dude! You were the one behind 'Operation Rocket Blast Off'?! That was all over the news in both Hoenn AND Sinnoh for weeks!" Red groaned and slapped his forehead. "I really wish Blue hadn't named it that…" Green shrugged "To be fair, Sabrina's idea's wasn't that much better."

**-Flashback. Saffron City four years ago-**

In a secret room hidden within the fighting dojo of Saffron City, a plan was being….. Planned. Around a large oval table sat the dojo master, along with Green, Sabrina, several police men, and, surprisingly enough, a grumpy Blue. Red was currently standing in front of a large projector going over an incredibly complicated plan involving the SLIPH building in the center of the city.

"So that's the plan in a nutshell. Any questions?" One of the police men sitting next to Sabrina raised a hand.

"Did anyone at this table actually understand him? Anyone?"

Silly Police men!

The dojo master shrugged, Sabrina 'hmphed', several other police men murmured negatively, while, Green and Blue both nodded, the latter rolling his eyes at the police men.

"Of course!"

"If anything else, this is one of your more simple plans. Also, why am I here? I should be heading for Cinnabar Island by now."

Green scowled and smacked the back of Blue's head. "Because you want to help the people of Saffron City."

Red snorted but quickly covered it up by coughing several times while Blue simply glared at him. "A-Anyway, *cough* if there's n-nothing else-" Green's hand shot into the air "I vote we name the plan!" Blue's hand covered his face with a groan of "Oh lord…" Sabrina's eyes seemed to light up at this idea for some reason. "I second that motion!"

Red rubbed his temple in frustration. "Do we HAVE to do this?"

"Operation Justice Strike!"

The answer was quite clear.

"Operation Psychic Takedown!" Sabrina offered. Blue snorted. Sabrina glared at him "Fine! How about Operation Retake Saffron?" Green quickly shook her head. "No! Too simple! We need a name that would sound awesome on the news! Like…. Like…."

"Operation Rocket Blast Off."

Everyone shot a wide eyed look towards the owner of the voice. Blue instantly hid his head behind his hands.

"Wow…" Green muttered.

"I second that!" Sabrina said raising her hand. Everyone in the room began muttering in agreement, while Red sighed. "Are we all in agreement?" Everyone nodded. Red sighed again and wrote 'Operation Rocket Blast Off' above the map of Saffron City.

"Let's begin then..."

**-Flashback end-**

**-With Brawly and Brendan. Dewford Town-**

The search for Steven began, as most side quests did. They started with asking every single person they could find in the town for information. Most of the townspeople had no idea where he could be. One fisherman confused Brendan greatly. When asked if he had seen the white haired man, the fisherman replied with "What do people do if they need to go to a washroom? What if my rod hooks a big one while I'm in the washroom? I can't just go… (1)"

He then challenged Brendan to a battle and lost… badly. The next person they asked weren't much better.

"Excuse me sir!" Brendan said tapping on another fisherman's shoulder. The man turned from his fishing spot, grinned, and asked "Which do you prefer? Fishing in the sea or a stream?"

Brendan and Brawly stared at the fisherman as he then sent out two Magikarp, and a Tentacool.

One annoying battle later…

"Steven? Sure, I saw him in Granite Cave around 5 minute's ago. A hiker replied when asked about Steven. Brendan turned to Brawly "Granite Cave?" Brawly nodded "It's a small cave on the outskirts of town. I used that cave for my training before I became a Gym Leader. Knowing Steven, he is most likely searching for interesting stones."

Brendan nodded in understanding. The president of DEVON had told him a lot about Steven, including the fact that he searched far and wide for stones all the time. "Alright! Let's check out Granite Cave then!"

Before Brendan could walk away, the hiker sent out several rock Pokemon.

**-Granite Cave-**

"Nice of him to heal your Pokemon for beating him." Brawly said breaking a silence that had started ever since the battle with the hiker. Brendan said nothing but ordered Combusken and Lombre to attack a group of Zubat that had decided to attack the pair. Brawly sighed "Are you STILL mad about that Vulpix?" Brendan's eye twitched and Brawly grinned "I guess you are. You have to admit, it was pretty funny."

"No. It. Wasn't." Brendan growled through clenched teeth. Brawly just chuckled and shook his head "Who knew that lady's Vulpix was such a scary-cat?" "Not. Talking. About it." Brendan growled again. "I just want to get this letter delivered to Steven and go to Slateport…"

"Oh? A letter for me?"

A hand suddenly shot out of the shadows nearby and snatched the letter from Brendan's hand. "Wha- Hey!" An ominous pressure suddenly coated the area. A feeling of pure power and skill filled Brendan to his very bones as a white haired man wearing a purple tuxedo-style suit walked out of the shadows, smiled and handed the letter back to him. "Nice to see you again, Brawly. How's the gym doing?"

If one looked closely at Brendan, they would see him shivering. One look at Steven was all it took for the shaking to begin.

_'This guy… he looks like he's all smiles and stuff, but there's something else… I feel… power, power radiating from him! Do all champions have the same feeling?' _Brendan wondered _'No, it can't be that. I don't feel like this around Master Red. It must be just him then…'_

"Really? They think I'm missing?" Steven asked in a surprised tone "Well, I guess I DID go without contacting anyone longer than usual…" Brawly sighed and shrugged "Aw dude... Half of Hoenn is worried sick and searching for you and it turns out you were just on another field trip…"

Steven then turned to Brendan and smiled again "You went through all this trouble to deliver that. I need to thank you…" He began to shuffle around the large bag around his waist and pulled out a small pokeball. "Here. Inside this pokeball is a special steel-type Pokemon called Beldam." Brendan stared at the pokeball as Steven continued "Your Pokemon seem to be quite capable. If you keep up your training, you may even be able to battle the champion of the Pokemon league… that's what I think."

Brendan suddenly glared at Steven and held out two pokeballs.

"Let's battle. Right here, right now."

**-Slateport City. With Fire Red and Leaf Green…-**

"Ahoy! We've made land in Slateport!"

Green giggled when Red stumbled down the boats ramp and groaned. "Never again… I will never board another boat again…" "You always say that. Anyway, we better find this…" She looked at the label on the box of goods "Capt. Stern. I hope he hasn't been waiting long!"

Mr. Briney chuckled, Peeko quickly mimicking him somehow, and smiled "I'll head back to Dewford and wait for young Brendan, it's the least I can do for all you have done for us." Red nodded and waved as the two made their way up the beach. "Goodbye Mr. Briney! May we meet again!"

Which we all know for a fact, he will. But that's not for another many chapters, so shhhhh…

After asking the many citizens of Slateport where Capt. Stern worked, along with getting a strange bag of sand from a little girl in an inner tube back on the beach, battling a young boy wearing a similar looking inner tube complaining about how thirsty he was, double battling a sailor with gas problems and another little girl with an inner tube (WHY DO THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME?! -Red) who had decided to PRETEND to swim, despite not being able to swim in reality, and having another double battle with yet another inner tube girl who kept comparing beach umbrellas to giant flowers (Yes I will be complaining about a lot of these trainers!) and an inner tube… boy that kept bragging about how round his inner tube was, the two FINALLY found themselves in front of a large warehouse.

"It's… big." Red finally said after two minutes of silence. Green rolled her eyes and walked in "Excuse me! Is there a Capt. Stern in here?!" Inside the large warehouse, was a great many machine's and what appeared to be submarine blueprints hanging on walls everywhere. A balding man sat in front of one such blueprint and groaned "Arrrgh! I can't make heads or tails of this!" He then turned, appearently about to storm off, when he noticed Green carrying a large box.

"Hm? Hi, I'm Dock." Red smiled, at least this man seemed to be normal. "Hi, I'm Re-" "Capt. Stern commissioned me to design a ferry." The man interrupted without a second thought. Green laughed nervously and shifted the box slightly, which of course instantly caught Dock's attention. "Oh! Those are… Are they DEVON goods?" Before ether could say a word, Dock quickly frowned "But, hmmm…. This won't do… Capt. Stern went off somewhere, saying he had some work to do." He then eyed the two and grinned "Could I get you two to go find Stern and deliver those to him?" Without waiting for a response, Dock turned and went back to the blueprint and began muttering incoherently.

Green sighed and glared at Red "Always when I'm traveling with you! The weirdo's always show up around you!" Red, for the first time in his relationship with Green, found himself unable to argue with her.

* * *

After even MORE asking around, the two wound up inside the large museum on the east side of the city. By a happy (Depending on who you were at that exact time and place.) coincidence, that same museum was currently being ransacked by Team Aqua grunts!

"Welcome to Slateport Museum!" The receptionist greeted with a kind and sincere smile, as if nothing was currently happening. Every grunt in the room instantly laid eyes on Red and Green, yet strangely enough, none of them attacked, threw pokeballs, or even glared at them. They just continuously switched between looking at the receptionist and the pair.

"The entrance fee is $50! Would you like to enter?" The air was tense as Red slowly handed the woman the cash without taking his eyes off of the grunts, who were now watching the cash enter the woman's hand. The receptionist took the money, smiled, and bowed.

"Please enjoy yourself."

The instant she finished that sentence, the battle was on...

**-Back with Brendan…-**

Steven returned Metagross to it's pokeball with a triumphant smile.

"Well now, have we leaned something today?"

"Y-Y-Yes sir…"

"And that would be…?"

"Never challenge a former Pokemon league champion after winning only two badges?"

Steven thought for a second, and then shrugged "Not the answer I was looking for but close enough."

It had been a one-sided fight from beginning to end. Steven seemed to have ether all of his weaknesses covered or had no weaknesses at all! Every move he made, offensive AND defensive, brought Brendan's Pokemon down HARD.

"Do you know how and why you lost?" Steven asked with a gesture towards Brendan's Pokemon. When Brendan didn't reply, Steven answered for him. "Your first mistake was challenging a champion to a battle when you only had the experience of a graduate from trainer's academy. Your second mistake was to use Pokemon whose powers haven't fully developed yet. Even if you know your opponent's weaknesses and abilities by heart, if you don't have the strength or experience to counter or exploit them, then it is pointless to even try."

Brawly laughed as he healed Brendan's Pokemon. Even when he wasn't in the middle of a Pokemon league challenge, Steven still liked to lecture his opponent's after a battle.

Steven suddenly turned his frown into a smile "On the other hand, you challenged an obviously more powerful trainer to a battle, and saw what your limits were, which many trainer's would ether be too scared to do, or would deny ever having limits. Such actions hold you AND your Pokemon back. When you leave this cave, you will have become even stronger."

Brendan slowly nodded as he registered everything Steven had said. "And with that…" He called Metagross out again and sat down on it's head "And with that, I shall take my leave." The metagross nodded and slowly floated up and out of the hole in the ceiling of the cavern.

Brawly stared up at the ceiling, wondering how the hole was there in the first place, while Brendan replayed the battle in his head again and again. His left hand began trembling as he suddenly grinned "Again…" Brawly blinked and looked down at Brendan "What's up shorty?" Brendan leapt to his feet and grinned "If I beat the Elite Four and the champion, do you think Steven will battle me again?"

Brawly sweatdropped "What about your little thing about wanting to climb Mt. Silver?" Brendan shrugged "Who says I can't do both? Come on, Brawly! Let's get training!"

As Brendan dashed out of the cavern, his fully-healed Pokemon right behind him, Brawly couldn't help wondering what kind of trainer he would become in the near future….

**-Slateport Museum. Same time as Brendan's battle with Steven.-**

The battle, if that's what you want to call twenty grunt's ganging up on two teenagers, had been one sided from beginning to end. In Red and Green's favor of course.

"N-Now what?!" One of the grunts cried out. "If we don't get those parts, we're in for it!" Another grunt slammed her fists on the ground and groaned "Arrrgh! I didn't count on being meddled with by some meddling kids!" Red heaved a weary sigh. Team Rocket loved calling him a meddling twerp. These guys seemed to be no different. "Er… if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get these parts delivered to Stern…" Green began, only to be interrupted by a sharp chuckle from behind the two.

"I came to see what was taking so long to snatch some parts, and you simps are held up by mere children?"

In walked Blackbea-, I mean, the Team Aqua leader Archie, in all his not-pirate attire. Seriously, he's TOTALLY not a pirate!

Archie calmly walked past the two teens, stopped just in front of the twenty some grunts, turned, and began his not-evil monologue. Spread arms included.

"We are Team Aqua! And we love the sea!"

Totally relevant! What a great start!

"And I, am Team Aqua's leader, Archie!" He said as if everyone in the room actually cared. "What makes you interfere with us?" He asked with a questioning look, a look that quickly shifted to surprise and fear when he noticed Red's… RED clothing. "No! It can't be! You're not one of Team Magma?!" A quick look at Red's BLUE jeans brought a sigh of relief "Wait, that can't be right. You aren't dressed for the part." He then lapsed into silence for a good thirty seconds. Green opened her mouth, intent on asking questions, when Archie suddenly continued his monologue.

"Pokemon, People… All life depends on the sea... Therefore, Team Aqua is dedicated to the expansion of the sea!" Arm's spread out again… "Don't you agree?! What we are doing is a magnificent undertaking!" There it was, that key word that Team Rocket used SO many times. Magnificent Undertaking. Red suddenly yawned, but Archie didn't seem to notice. "Ah, fine. You two are still too young to understand our noble objective." Cue another unnoticed yawn from Red. Archie shot the two a demanding look. "But I warn you, don't even consider interfering with our plans again. The consequences will cost you dearly! And don't you two forget it!"

By this time, Green was lightly snoring on Red's shoulder, while Red himself found it hard to stay awake. The room's lights suddenly dimmed for a split second. When they came back on, Archie and his twenty minions were all gone, minus one who just stared at a nearby exhibit as if in a trance.

Both teens snapped awake as a head popped out of the room beyond and stared at Red and Green "Yes? If you are looking for Stern, that would be me." Red and Green stared in disbelief as 'Stern' entered the room looking around and taking note of several knocked over exhibits.

"Did I, er… Did I miss something?"

**One long talk later...**

"Ok, you are Fire Red, and Leaf Green! Well, from the explanation you just gave em, it seems like you saved the museum from a tense situation! Many thanks!" He then remembered the shiny box in Green's arms "Oh yes! I nearly forgot you brought me the DEVON parts!" Green smiled and nodded, glad to finally be free of lugging around the heavy box. "Glad we could help Cap-" The second Stern grasped the box, his head snapped towards the nearest clock and he let out an overdramatic gasp. "Whoops! There's no time to lose! We have to set out on our ocean-floor expedition soon. Thanks again, But I really have to get going!"

Box in hand, Stern stormed out of the museum with a determined look on his face. The grunt staring at the exhibit, suddenly shrieked and stared at Red.

"AIYYYYYEH! What are you doing here?!"

**-Outside the museum-**

"Well, we have until Brendan rejoins us, to look around Slateport. Might as well check…out...the... Green?"

"Yes, Red?" Green asked in a sweet tone.

"Why are you staring at me with a smile that somehow means you are going to give me headaches in the near future?"

Green's smile grew wider. "Wellll, now that you mention it, you still owe me for my help with the battle tower on Seven Island…." Red paled as she continued, her smile grew slowly wider "Sooooo…. I'm going on a shopping spree! And you are paying for everything!" Red breathed a sigh of relief. Green's shopping sprees were short. He just might get out ali- "And then I want to check out the battle tent that's supposed to be here, and THEN…" "THEN I treat you to dinner, right?" Red sighed in defeat.

Green patted Red's head and smiled. "Good boyfriend! You've learned well!"

"Huh? I'm sure I've met you before…"

A short, slightly chubby man dressed for summer, epic shades included, made his way over to the two and stared at Red thoughtfully. "Have I introduced myself to you yet? If not, my name's Scott. I just saw Team Aqua run away from here like they were being chased by a rampaging Rhydon!"

He looked Red and Green over and smirked "Don't tell me… you two drove them away?" When the two nodded, Scott turned away and began mumbling something incoherent.

Because that's what people do when they look away from people they talk to!

He finally turned around and grinned "All right! I think you two are going to be good friends! Let me formally introduce myself, I am Scott. Head of the Battle Frontier! It's my job to scout around for promising young trainers and recruit them! I'm going to keep my eyes on you two, while I'm off looking around other towns. I'll be seeing you two around!"

Red blinked and Scott was gone. Silence covered the area for a few seconds until Green grinned.

"So about our shopping date…."

And he was hoping she had forgotten about that!

* * *

_**Score card update!**_

_**Name: Fire Red.**_

_**Team: Grovyle (Lvl 27) Kirila (Lvl 26)**_

_**Current location: Slateport City**_

* * *

_**Name: Leaf Green**_

_**Team: TBR**_

_**Current location: Slateport City**_

* * *

_**Name: Brendan Sapphire**_

_**Team: Combusken (Busken) (Lvl 24) Lombre (Bre) (Lvl 24) Beldum (Bel) (Lvl 5)**_

_**Current location: Granite Cave**_

* * *

_**Name: Kira Thantos**_

_**Team: Dragonite (Lvl ?) (Shiny) TBR**_

_**Current location: Trapped in Team Magma's base.**_


End file.
